Reflections of a Broken Kunoichi
by Miranda Panda-chan
Summary: COMPLETED! SasuSaku. Sasuke has finally returned, but Sakura has changed, and through a twist of unpleasant and unexpected events, a believed to be dead foe once again rises against Team 7. And while Team 7 may think they're invincible--they are wrong. RX
1. What We've Become

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Sasuke, or Sakura or anything else. Though if I did, Sasuke would be in love with me, and the series wouldn't be that great, so thankfully, in a way, I don't own it. ALL HAIL MASASHI KISHIMOTO FOR CREATING SASUKE! **

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A/N: Heh, as you may have noticed from the Disclaimer, I'm a Sasuke fangirl, yeah….O.o Anywho, this is a first for Naruto, and now I'm going for a One-shot Naruto fic. Please review, I would appreciate it very much, I'm able to figure out if I have any chance at writing more fanfics for this anime by how many reviews I get, so review a lot, because Mimi-chan (me) has lots of ideas. K? Okay. On with it then... ****

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Warnings: This fanfic contains attempted suicide and a little OOCness on most of the characters (but I did my best to try and keep them somewhat the same), if you have a problem with it, don't read it and don't take the time to flame me. **

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"Talking"

'_Thoughts'_

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Reflections of a Broken Kunoichi 

**By: Mitsurufangirl009**

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Sakura walked along the streets of Konoha coming back from her latest mission as a jonin. She was to meet Godaime-sama in her office once she'd returned something urgent she assumed. Sakura had changed over the years, her pink hair was still cut short, and she wore her basic attire still, but her attitude about life in general was very much different than that of her twelve year old self. She hated life, hated it with the fire of a thousand suns. She didn't understand why she was still being put through hell. She'd been a nice person in life, but it seemed that fate was not without a sense of irony. The bright blossom that had loved life and lived it to the fullest, had faded, withered, and hated life with a passion that made her thoughts linger on death.

Her friends had tried to everything to get her to smile since the fateful night of the Uchiha's departure, but they soon realized that it was a lost cause, and gave up on her. The only friends she had now were Naruto and Kakashi, she couldn't have gotten rid of Naruto even if she'd wanted to, he was like a mother hen, always worrying about and doing everything in his power to make her life happy. Kakashi was there as motivation to get stronger, to move forward. He was a symbol of everything she needed to do, but still she hung around in the past. Sasuke was a symbol of what pushed her forward, her motivation, once she got him back in Konoha…she supposed she could die happily.

Her normal attire was the same, she added only a bandages around her legs and her wrists. She still wore her sleeveless red shirt with the beige skirt and black shorts underneath. Her physical appearance had gone from being a girl's body to a woman's, she was slightly taller, but Naruto was still a head taller than her, and she'd grown curves in all the right places.

She continued walking through town, hearing the comments of others along the road. Whispers of how she once was, reasons of why they thought she'd changed. They were all wrong, though, no one really knew why, except maybe Naruto, they knew only a small portion of the story. Through the years her strength had increased, and she was now considered the best medic-nin in Konoha, as well as the Hokage's, Tsunade's, apprentice. The glares, stares, and gawks of others, bore holes into her, but she'd managed, over the years, to become indifferent to what others thought of her. She disregarded it, their opinions, their advice, their whispers and comments, their thoughts, her own thoughts even, she was indifferent to it all. Very few things could phase her. The only ones that could ever even get her to try and smile were Naruto and Kakashi, her only family. Her blood family had died, but she had concluded that maybe Team 7 was her real family after all, from the very beginning.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" a blonde haired boy yelled enthusiastically. Naruto ran to greet his friend, smiling big enough for the both of them.

"Sakura-chan, you're back! You're not hurt are you?"

"No, Naruto, I'm fine. I was just on my way to see Tsunade-sama." She said, her once bright emerald green eyes had dulled over the time of five years. She looked at him distantly; she always did, it happened every time she spoke to Naruto. Her mind's eye would always picture Sasuke walking casually from behind Naruto with his stoic expressions as always.

"Sakura-chan?" that snapped her back to reality, and her wrists began to throb from her thoughts of Sasuke, for Sasuke was the reason she'd done this to herself in the first place…or at least one of the main reasons. She absent-mindedly started to rub one of her wrists, a pained expression barely visible on her pale face. Naruto noticed the gesture immediately, snapping his happy emotion.

"Sakura," His voice taking on a warning tone, "you did it again, didn't you?" He asked worry woven through his voice.

"Don't ask questions you already know the answers too, Naruto. They won't go away over night, and I suggest you get use to it. I don't plan on stopping any time soon."

"That's until _'he'_ comes back, right?" he asked quietly, Sakura's head shot up, eyes flashing.

"Don't ever mention **him** around me! **Do you understand, Naruto**?" she growled out. Naruto nodded in submission, wishing silently for the old Sakura back.

Sakura finally reached Tsunade's office with the accompaniment of Naruto.

"Tsunade-baa-chan, are you there?" Naruto called, walking through the door, Sakura in tow. A loud groan was heard behind a large pile of papers as empty sake bottles scattered the floor.

"Sakura-chan? You're late…" Tsunade whined drunkenly.

"What is it that you called me for?"

"Ah, why do ya got to be so mean? I'm just joking, relax a bit, will ya?"

"Get to the point, please? I really don't have all day." Sakura snapped back, her anger rising.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"Yeah, what about him?" she growled out.

"Uchiha Sasuke-he's back." She said lazily, like it happened every day.

"Pardon me, but I think I misheard you." She said warningly, hitting her fist against the desk making papers fly.

"You heard me correctly, Sakura. The Uchiha is back." Sakura's fist went through the desk.

"Crap, now papers are all messed up, stupid papers-stupid trees," the Hokage mumbled to herself, "He was found this morning. He'll be leaving the hospital later this afternoon. He's been given his punishment and has accepted it. He's back for good."

"Sasuke-teme's back, eh? That's good, right Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked timidly, fearing Sakura's wrath. Her head snapped back to look at him eyes wary.

"I don't believe it."

"I know isn't it-"

"No, I don't believe he's even here. You're making it up, aren't you, Tsunade-shishou?"

"Go see for yourself, Sakura-chan, he's probably awake by now if he ever went to sleep at all."

"I will, and it'll be my imagination, just like all the times before." She growled out and walked back outside, slamming the door behind, leaving a stunned Tsunade and Naruto. Naruto ran out to her, catching up but as he soon as he'd reached her. The calm pace of her walking became running, as she ran down the streets once more that day. She reached the double doors of the hospital finally with Naruto in tow.

"Tell me where he is." She growled through gritted teeth.

"I don't know who you mean, ma'am," said a startled nurse.

"Uchiha." She spat. She was given directions and walked off, knowing where to go sense she came here almost every day of her life to work. She walked slowly, calmly even, while Naruto watcher her curiously. He knew she hated Sasuke for leaving her, and her parents' deaths hadn't helped her either. It was because of Sasuke that Sakura had changed for the worst. And now Naruto feared that all hell would break loose once Sakura found Sasuke. But his suspicions were proven curiously wrong as Sakura opened the door and onyx eyes stared piercingly back at her.

"He really is here," she whispered, shock flowing through her in waves.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, pushing her a little into the room. Sakura gazed at Sasuke, eyes wide and unblinking, she slowly turned to Naruto, trembling.

"She wasn't lying, Naruto, she wasn't lying." She whispered, hysteria finding its way through her voice.

"Sakura, calm down, she never has lied to you. You've imagined it, she's never told you anything that hasn't been true." He explained quietly, he had that feeling once again that this wasn't going to end well at all. Sasuke's stare was now glued to the window, refusing to acknowledge them any longer.

Sakura ran from the room. She heard Naruto call her name once, but it didn't matter._ "He's back…! Sasuke-kun is back, this time for real. It's not in my head like before…why has he come back, though? Did they drag him here? What if he leaves again?!"_ she cried in her head. Reaching her apartment, she slid in the key to unlock the door, but felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Wha-!" she spun around only to find the one and only Kakashi.\

"Where are you oft to so quickly? I've been calling your name for awhile now and had to run to catch up to you."

"I need to…I wanted to go home, and get here as quickly as possible. I just wanted to go home…that's all.

"You're running away again, aren't you, Sakura-cha?" He told her his eye seemingly to see into her soul, seeing through her lame excuse for a lie.

"I'm not running…I'm not that weak, Kaka-sensei. I just... he's back… she cried, tear streaming from her eyes for the first time in five years since the departure of the Uchiha.

"He's back. That's all that matters, you have to believe that he'll stay this time, or else he'll disappear again, is that what you want Sakura?"

"No! I want him to stay, but I want _him, _I want the old Sasuke-kun! SO YES! That's what I want, to never see that damn bastard's face again! He broke my heart a thousand times, Kakashi-sensei. The minute he left my parents were found dead near Sound, and that's when I needed him the most. And where was he? Heading towards the very village that slaughtered my parents! I can't feel the same way I did before. I can't, I won't, and I don't. Besides, when we were still genin and he would be a jerk, I might be depressed or sad for the rest of the day at the most, but the next day I would always feel happy and lighthearted again. He left. I was ad and depressed then. I've been sad and depressed for five years, and it hasn't changed; not for one second since that night. Do you really- no, can you really believe that I still love him after all he's done!" she snapped. Kakashi merely nodded.

"You care more about him than you might think. The real reason I came here to talk to you, wasn't about that. I've found out a little secret of yours. And so here goes my advice and orders as your former teacher: stop hurting yourself over him Sakura. If you don't I will see to it personally that all things that could possibly be considered dangerous to yourself are removed from your possession, and I will talk with the Hokage if I have to do such and have you removed from any missions."

"Damn you. Does that mean that you're going to remove me too? I'm the one choosing to harm myself, not anyone else. It's my body, my arm, my wrist, my life, and my kunai. Besides how did you-"

"Naruto is very easily bribed when ramen is involved."

"That rat." She grumbled.

"No, not rat. If anything you should be singing his praises or I would've have found out on my own, and you know how I find things out. Which one would you rather have gone through? It doesn't really matter though, not anymore. He told because he was simply worried about a girl that's precious to him, and decided to let me in on a little secret. How long have you been doing this?"

"Since Sasuke left." She said feeling a little guilty under his piercing stare.

"How many times?"

"I've lost count, but I don't see how that's any of your business."

"As your former teacher and as a friend, it is my business."

"Whatever, you might as well add some five to it." She smarted off, her anger once again beginning to rise.

"I wouldn't advise it."

"Kakashi-sensei, I wouldn't advise getting involved, as I've said to Naruto and now you. My mind is set, besides someone has to punish me and sense no one else will, I'll do it."

"And what sins are so bad that you have to harm yourself to feel clean again?"

"I'll never feel clean again, the sins that I've done. Actually thinking that I could be with him forever. Thinking only of myself whenever he's around, when Naruto's killing himself on the inside. Staying in the past instead of moving forward like I should do."

"Why don't you?"

"Because if I do, my happy memories will go away, the ones with and without Sasuke. My heart is rotting away as it is, I can honestly say that I would like to keep some part or portion of my sanity."

"Sakura-"

"It's late, I'm tired, and I don't want to listen to you say how I could deal with my problems in a much better and healthier way. I'm going to bed. Good night, Kakashi-sensei." She said forcefully.

She opened the door and walked inside before turning around to see if Kakashi was still there only to see that he'd vanished, leaving a puff of smoke in his wake. She shut the door, not surprised that Kakashi had found out, anyone with eyes that cared to look at her could see her wrists were slit. She walked to her bathroom removing a kunai from her pouch, she unwrapped her arms, staring blankly at her masterpieces of art. 'SASUKE' was carved into her arms multiple time as well as just simple cuts. She ran water over her arms in an attempt to cool her coursing blood and relieve herself from the sweat and grime that had gathered under the bandages during the day. She sighed as she relished the cold spreading through her arms. She took the kunai in her right hand, steadying it before digging it into her left wrist. Blood flowed down her arm dripping into the sink. She raised the gleaming bloody weapon in the air once more. She felt the cool metal etch across her arm, a flaming sensation seemed to thrive as she once more sliced into her arm. She looked at the blood greedily, it was like a drug, the more blood she lost a little happier she'd get, but it was a sick happiness- sadistic and murderous, or suicidal. She sighed contently feeling the pain rip through her arm as she moved it from over the sink. This was her escape, this was how she had lived every day for five years…

Naruto looked at Sasuke, who only stared at the window since Sakura's departure.

"You know, Sakura, she's changed. You probably heard, but she's refusing to believe you're here. She's delusional and keeps telling everyone that your back every once in awhile only to find out that it was her imagination. She's not the same Sakura that you knew before, she's become colder than even you, Sasuke-teme. You should see her wrists, but don't ever say that I told you, she's already gonna kill me for telling Kakashi-sensei." Said Naruto, breaking the crushing silence.

"Why did she run away? You'd think she'd be jumping all over me like she normally does. Is she still as weak as she was when I left as to solve her problems by self-mutilation?" he growled the sentence out. It wasn't like he cared about what she did, she was just an ex-teamate and now an ex-fangirl. One less to deal with he supposed.

"Did," Naruto corrected his second sentence. "She hates you, she hates you for leaving her, she wants her heart back. But she gave it to you, and God knows how you've treated it. Her parents were found dead at Sound a day after you departure, both were mutilated piles of flesh and blood. She could've moved on had you been here, at least she'd be better than she is now. One thing though, and I'm warning ahead of time. Make Sakura mad or make her cry or upset once, and you'll regret it. If not by Sakura-chan, than by me!" his voice chillingly threatening, but really would the great Uchiha prodigy show any sign of fear at the dobe's words? No. Sasuke simply sneered, it wasn't like he actually tried to hurt her, it just sort of happened.

"What about my last question, dobe? Is she still so weak still to have to solve her problem by self-mutilation?"

"She isn't weak. I don't like what she'd doing, in no way. But it takes a lot of guts to be her. To do that, after what's happened to her. To even live another day as her, I would die, I couldn't do it." Naruto explained head down.

"She's even weaker than before, running away from her problems."

"She says it's to punish herself…something about no one punishing her for her sins."

"What did she do that deserves a kunai to the wrist?"

"She say that she's been sinning by ever believing she could be with you forever, for ever believing that you'd come back, but you have so…- and one she stays by, for refusing to move forward." Naruto got up to walk out, Sasuke followed, as he was released awhile ago, but stayed in hoped of maybe seeing Sakura for more than three seconds.

"Oh yea…don't be expecting Ino to do anything to help you with problems including Sakura. Ino wants nothing to do with Sakura-chan. Besides Shikamaru doesn't like people, especially people of the male persuasion, hanging around her. He's never liked you from the start I suggest you stay away from them."

"I hadn't even thought of her, she's an idiot anyways."

"Whatever, I'm going home, later."

"Hey dobe, I'm going to Sakura's house, to see for myself if what you say is true."

"Just remember what I said before hurt her once and you die! Another thing, knock on her door, let her come to you. You won't like what you find if you go the normal way; through the window."

"Hn." Sasuke replied, trudging off walking towards Sakura's house. The only reason he came back to Konoha was for her. Itachi was dead, he, more or less, killed him. Itachi had been injured when he found him; half-dead even. He'd killed Kabuto and Orochimaru as well. He'd gone unconscious after he killed his brother, when he woke up he was in sound. He kill his sensei and the medic for moving him before he could see his brother's dead face. Now, he had the task of restoring his clan. And that in itself was easily accomplished with his fangirls flocking to his every whim. But in a way it was easier said than done because of his pickiness. He didn't want some slut birthing his children, he wanted someone that he liked, he liked, the one, the only…

"Sakura?" Sasuke called through the door. No answer, Naruto had said not to go the easy route, but since when did the Uchiha genius ever listen to that dobe. So he climbed the tree near her window and stepped lightly on the balcony. His eyes widened slightly at the sight that stood before him.

Sakura stood up from her place on the floor, before she wrapped her wrist up once more, she raised it to the wall, beginning one again on her master piece, simply letting the blood that flowed from her wrist smear across her wall in a giant stripe of crimson. Her walls were coated in her blood, she wrapped her wrist back up, beginning to feel the after affects of her addiction. She closed her eyes, but felt something staring at her, slowly she reopened her eyes and allowed dimmed emerald orbs to wander around the room, they stopped at the opening to the balcony.

"U-Uchiha?" she whispered not believing that he was standing at her balcony, staring at her with wide eyes, shock and fear drained out of her in an instant as anger took its place.

"WHAT'RE YOU DOING IN HERE!" Sakura yelled, plastering a permanent emotionless expression on her face.

"I came to see what the hell is wrong with you." Sasuke answered back his voice chillingly calm.

"Nothing's wrong with me, but something's wrong with you! DON'T YOU KNOW HOW TO KNOCK!"

"I did, no one answered, the dobe told me that if I came up the easy way that I'd find something I wouldn't like and- I got curious. Besides- this is how I always get to your room."

"My room is off limits now to everyone but Naruto, who's already seen it."

"I noticed." He walked in slowly, though he could see the murderous gleam in Sakura's emerald orbs. Blood caked the walls in painful stripes, but thankfully Sakura was still human and had sprayed perfume to downplay the smell of blood. He touched one of the walls for a split second before recoiling in disgust though his expression showed nothing; fresh blood was one thing, but dried caked on blood was an entirely different story.

"What have you done?" he asked, a hint irritation in his cold voice. Sakura played with bandages on her wrist, she hoped he hadn't seen her make the latest stripe on her wall, who know, if she was lucky he might think it was the blood of her enemies. That hope was quickly crushed when Sasuke grabbed her wrist making her yelp in pain. The blood acted like glue, it happened every time. She'd wrap her wrist with the bandage the blood still flowing and it would take an army to unwrap it. That's the reason Sakura fought so hard against Sasuke to get away from him before he could completely unwrap it. Besides, she didn't want him seeing his name carved into her arm.

"Sakura, you either unwrap it or I will, I'm going to see it either way. You're not going to hide it from me" Sasuke said, but in his head he added , _'and show it to that dobe.'_ A hint of jealousy was evident in his voice, but Sakura didn't seem to notice at all, and if she did, she made no comment on it. Sakura bit her lip, tears slowly brimming in her eyes. She grabbed the end of the bandage, not having enough confidence to stand up to her love again. Slowly, she unwrapped it.

"It's not like it matters to you. You don't care about anything."

"For once Sakura, will you listen to me-"

"I always listen to you Sasuke-kun," her mental walls of resolve shattering," always, but could you once listen to me! Hear me out for once in your life instead of knocking me out and leaving me, all the while my words, words from my heart, are going in one ear and out the other!"

"Sakura-"

"NO! Just stop it!"

"Sakura, how could you do this to yourself?" Sasuke exclaimed, as Sakura showed him her arms, he kept quiet about the many scars that resembled his name. She looked at her bare feet like they were the most interesting things in the world.

"Sasuke-kun, I laid my heart at your feet, you trampled on it as you walked out of Konoha's gates…I'm Tsunade's apprentice now, also the best medic-nin in all of Konoha. I'm not the same weak little girl that you left on that bench. Naruto is even trying to get me to join as an ANBU. Heh. I think I'll stick to jonin. I've missed you though, you're the only I'll admit it too…Kakashi-sensei knows about this little habit of mine, but only Naruto's ever actually seen what I've come too, that is until you showed up. He's seen the scars and the blood, he tries to discourage me, but nothing can change my mind about what I'm doing… But you, I know you. You couldn't care less. Ino-pig and Shikamaru, Naruto and Hinata, Neji and Tenten, everyone- all our friends began to pair off, and I was in here, sitting on my bed seeing how much blood I could paint on the walls before I passed out. I lost one pint and had to be taken to the hospital, but I didn't have scars then. That was my first and very pathetic attempt at suicide that was three weeks after you left. My second attempt was last year, Naruto found me, with his nose I couldn't hide anything from him. But they say that third time's a charm right?" she said smiling sadly, "I sound pathetic, rambling to someone who could care less about what I do as long as I don't get in your way, right Uchiha?" Sakura asked straightening up from her slowly shrinking form.

"Would you stop with the Uchiha?" Sasuke told her, irritation obviously woven through his normally cold voice.

Sasuke looked at Sakura, a somewhat angry glint in his eye, "Your right Sakura, you aren't the same weak little girl that I left that night, you're even weaker." He said to her coldly, she looked down, twiddling her finger and biting her lip, she nodded in somewhat agreement. Sasuke sighed and turned around the stench of blood was getting to him. He took one last look at the broken kunoichi of his childhood and jumped off the balcony and began his walk to his house.

Sakura closed the curtain to her balcony. There was no such thing as happiness, everyone had found it but the one who needed it the most could never quite reach it. She'd tried everything to take her mind off the growing pain her heart. She couldn't. She trained to the point of exhaustion when Kakashi would have to order Naruto to take her home, she mutilated her arms, she painted her walls with her blood, she did her best to accept every life threatening mission possible. But the missions were something she did for herself, she knew she would never be able to let herself die on a mission. It was pointless to even think about it as she knew that if she died, the mission would fail, and she could never allow a mission to fail under her command. She looked sadly at the last remaining picture of Team 7 that she hadn't burned. She gazed at the raven-haired thirteen-year-old boy, Sasuke, that she'd used to love, but now--

"I can't love you, not after what you did to me! I WON'T DAMMIT I REFUSE TO LOVE YOU ANYMORE!" she screamed hitting the picture with her fist, the glass shattering and scraping her knuckles. She heard suddenly, soft footsteps coming closer, a human presence behind her. She spun around furious only to see Naruto.

"Sakura - you - I…you can't tell me that you don't still love Sasuke-teme, he was the only reason you did this, right? Well, now he's back, and the reason he's back is to accomplish his second goal: restore his clan. Who do you think he came back for? Ino? Shikamaru might have something to say about that. Hinata? He touches her and I'll rip his balls off. Tenten? Neji might not appreciate that much. See? He came back for you, you were the only girl that was truly close to him. Forgive and forget, Sakura- forgive and forget."

"I can't Naruto, and just because I'm the only girl his age, that he's known, that's single doesn't mean that there aren't other girls…stronger girls. Girls willing to fight instead of hide in their room painting with blood!" She cried, dropping to the floor, her head in her hands, which were trembling, violently, and her tears coursing down her pale face. Naruto came to her, putting a comforting hand on her back and giving her a shoulder to cry on.

"Did Sasuke-teme call you weak?" a gentle nod was his answer, "Sakura, you aren't weak. You're stronger than most, not even Sasuke could live like you do."

"He wouldn't be doing what I do either, he's strong! I'm not, I'm weaker than I was before, Sasuke-kun knows, he just pointed it out." Sakura cried, sobs racking through her body, "I only wanted to be stronger to show him, impress him, for him to believe and know that I wasn't any ordinary kunoichi, but no, it's now come to trying to prove to myself that I'm worth something. Sasuke didn't think I was worth anything, none of the guys think I'm worth anything, and I don't want to be alone forever, Naruto!" Naruto let her cry on him, they sat on the floor often together. Him with his arms wrapped around her as she sobbed in to his chest.

Sakura was now starting to quiet down, she slowly fell into one of the first fitful sleeps she'd had that month. Naruto laid her down on her bed and he did what he always did when Sakura was asleep and he was with her: help her.

He knew the blood on the walls caused her to vomit periodically, and so he slowly scrubbed the walls, and eventually, after three hours of cleaning, had her room free of blood. Next, was the hardest part: cleaning her arms. He unwrapped her arms, knowing she was a light sleeper and if he was caught in the act she'd kill him. She never made a comment to him about it when he wasn't caught, though she knew it was him. She would simply _try_ and give him a genuine smile. It was nice to see her try to smile, and with enough trying, maybe someday soon she'd be able to actually smile without having to try. _'Poor Sakura..,'_ Naruto thought as he put ointment on her arms after disinfecting them. _'I told Sasuke-teme to not make her cry. She hasn't cried since he left because she hasn't had any fresh heartbreak to deal with since then. Damn him! I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind, and if he doesn't watch his mouth he's gonna lose more than just his pride.'_ Naruto told himself. He re-bandaged her arms and left out the balcony, proud of his work and loyalty to his heartbroken friend, he didn't go around making best friends cry unlike some people he knew. _'Sasuke…'_

Sasuke stepped in front of the gate and say down on the bench. It was 'the' bench, the same one he'd put Sakura on as he left. He sighed, putting his head in his hands. The little kunoichi he'd come back for was gone and from Sakura's ramblings, she was the only girl in his supposed circle of friends that was left. She'd resorted to self-mutilation, not even he had gone that far. He'd never seen so much blood in one place before – scratch that, maybe he had, but not around Sakura.

'_She used to be so sweet, like the cherry blossoms she's named after. Her scent has gone from the scent of sakura flowers and roses to blood and decay. From pink to black, from being a happy, beautiful, and youthful girl, to an orphaned, depressed, and psychotic masochist. This all happened because 'I' left her. Yes, it's tried that I heard her proclaim her love to me several times, too many to count even. But we were only kids, how could I have known that she was serious, that she was truly that devoted to me?' _his thoughts were interrupted when he noticed a rock being aimed at his head, he caught it. Its thrower was none other than…

"Dobe, what are you doing here at this time of night?"

"Repaying you for breaking Sakura-chan **again**!" he emphasized the word 'again' rather harshly.

"I didn't do anything." Sasuke spat, his mind reeling.

"Really? You called her weak, you just crushed her with those words of yours!"

"I only said the truth, dobe."

"That isn't **the truth**, bastard! **The truth** is that her heart broke because of you. **The truth** is that if you want the old Sakura back, you'd better have a really good plan. **The truth** is that if you care about her at all, if you want her to love you again, than you'll refrain from calling her weak. She's not weak, it takes some guts to be her. Could you look at the person you love walking away from you everyday, lose your parents, and have your friends give up on you? I never knew my parents, and I know that your parents were killed too, but me and you have a stronger will – it comes with being male I guess – and she doesn't. Every time something in her life takes a drastic detour her grip on the rope of life slackens a bit, and if she's pushed to far, eventually she'll run out of rope to be pushed down on. Before that happens, though, knowing the Sakura now, her nonexistent will to live and see tomorrow might allow her to eventually let go completely, give up hope, give up on you, give up on life." Sasuke looked at Naruto, a scowl settling on his face. Naruto just glared back, ready to fight if it came to that.

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A/N: Please review, I'd appreciate it, also any constructive criticism you have please tell me, I want to make my fanfics as good as I can make them! Okay, well bye, the next chapter should be up rather quickly.**


	2. The Cold Shinobi of Stone Melts

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or Sasuke…I wish I did own Sasuke though, he would be my personal slave. **

**A/N: Not anything to say really…so on with it then!**

**Warnings: This fanfic contains attempted suicide and a little OOCness on most of the characters (but I did my best to try and keep them somewhat the same), if you have a problem with it, don't read it and don't take the time to flame me.**

"Talking"

'Thoughts' 

_Song Lyrics_

Text

'Flashback dialogue' 

**Reflections of a Broken Kunoichi: Chapter 2**

By: UmioftheShadows 

ReCaP from last chapter

"_That isn't **the truth**, bastard! **The truth** is that her heart broke because of you. **The truth** is that if you want the old Sakura back, you'd better have a really good plan. **The truth** is that if care about her at all, if you want her to love you again, than you'll refrain from calling her weak. She's not weak, it takes some guts to be her. Could you look at the person you love walking away from you everyday, lose your parents, and have your friends give up on you? I never knew my parents, and I know that your parents were killed too, but me and you have a stronger will – it comes with being male I guess – and she doesn't. Every time something in her life takes a drastic detour her grip on the rope of life slacken a bit, if she's pushed to far, eventually she'll run out of rope to be pushed down on. Before that happen, though, knowing the Sakura now, her nonexistent will to live and see tomorrow might allow her to eventually let go completely, give up hope, give up on you, give up on life." Sasuke looked at Naruto, a scowl settling on his face. Naruto just glared back, ready to fight if it came to that._

"I don't need to hear this from you." Sasuke told him nonchalantly. Naruto growled.

"Would you rather hear it from Sakura? Or would you rather see it on her arm for yourself?" he spat, snapping back, his anger rising rapidly.

"That's why she's weak, dobe. She can't keep her problem to herself, she's got to involve other people. Other people like you, me, Kakashi-sensei, and God only knows how many others."

"She didn't get me involved, I found out on my own. My nose could smell her blood, so I found out because of my curiosity. I was the one that Kakashi-sensei involved. I told him and asked him to persuade Sakura to stop hurting herself, hoping she would listen to him. She hasn't involved anyone, you involved yourself by going into her room. Got it Sasuke-teme?"

"Whatever, dobe." He and Naruto went their separate ways as it began to rain. But Sasuke didn't return to his house, he went to the clearing where the group trained in the mornings. Surprised at where his feet had led him to, low and behold who should find there, but Sakura, who was training in the rain. She was dressed in the same outfit as when he last saw her, except now her arms were covered in clean bandages. She was talking to herself, and thank kami she hadn't noticed him. He listened quietly to what she had to say.

"Sasuke-kun is always right damn it! I can't be weaker than I was before though, can I? Why can't I get stronger, why? All I do is train, work, sweat, and bleed! I don't sleep or eat, at least I don't try and make a habit of it. Sasuke-kun…" she cried, he knew she was sobbing the way her body convulsed. She was standing in front of a huge tree. Her forehead rested lightly on the rough bark, she hit her fists against the tree in frustration leaving her hands a bloody mess. She sunk down to her knees, still leaning against the tree slightly, he could hear her labored breathing from his hiding place in the brush.

"Why do you even try, Sakura? Why? What's the point? Sasuke-kun will always reject you. Naruto's wrong, Sasuke never came back for me, he just came back to restore his clan with some girl he could pick up in Konoha – his home village is all. That's all. So why do I keep trying? Simply because I want him to accept me. I should just stop trying though, I'll never get stronger will I?" She said to herself, she bit her lip, but tears still flowed down her cheeks, mixing with the rain. "But that means giving up! I guess I knew from the start it would come this, but I had hope…I should just get it over with instead of stalling for him to have a change of heart." She whispered to herself, her voice cracking slightly. She slowly got, her shoulder sagged in defeat at her own argument. She lifted her head up slowly to the sky. Tears and rain poured down her pale face her hair was plastered to her head, and he could hear the exhaustion in her voice as she walked away mumbling to herself. He turned around, allowing her words to sink in. He though nothing of it at the time…but her words refused to leave his mind. _'I should just get it over with instead of stalling for him to have a change of heart…'_

No! Hear me out now, you're gonna listen to me like it or not right now! 

_Here me out now, you're gonna listen to me like or not right now!_

_I can't feel the way I did before_

_Don't turn you back on me_

_I WON'T BE IGNORED!_

Sakura walked to her home, panting, ready to collapse right then and there, she knew someone was hiding in the bushes, she had a clue that it was Sasuke, but wasn't going to interrupt her training to kill the spying nuisance. She grabbed her mutilating kunai and a piece of paper. She walked to her desk, writing her last letter to everyone, but mostly Sasuke. If Naruto found it, he would know better than to save her. Kakashi wouldn't come into her room, or at least she didn't think he was likely to come in here. Even if she was saved, she would just try it until she succeeded in dying. She taped it to her window, where everyone that came to visit her came through. The letter was stained though, a drop of blood had fallen from her lips as she wrote it, and tears had smudged the ink of her pen. She jumped through her window with the kunai in hand and the picture of Team 7 in the other. She put the picture in a small pouch, not wanting it to get wet. She ran through Konoha, finally reaching the gate, she knew they would eventually begin to look for her, and she didn't want to be found.

She jumped it, running again once she fell to the other side. Finally she came to a tree that provided some protection from the rain, she'd deemed this tree worthy of being her tomb. She held the kunai over her wrist, not bothering to unwrap it, she plunged it into her arm, going deeper into her arm, than ever before. She screamed in agony. She hadn't thought that she'd scream, she knew the pain might be a little overwhelming but not so much as unbearable. She knew though, that now it was too late to turn back. She sliced her other wrist open, gritting her teeth together as she kept slicing, anywhere she could get the kunai knife against her flesh with ease she would cut herself there. Finally, once again she screamed, a chillingly shrill noise in the darkness, tears rolled down her cheeks as she tried to catch her breath, the pain in her chest was unbearable, she pulled out the picture from her pouch lying on her back on the ground. She stared at her own smiling face, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei…

"…Sasuke-kun…" she finally looked up at the tree, feeling her blood surround her, the crimson liquid, tears, and rain mixed together on the soil around her. The dull emerald orbs of Sakura flickered back to their original state as when she was a genin before completely flickering out into darkness. The last she saw was of her Sasuke-kun, but she could've sworn it was the real one, not the one in the picture who leaned over her with a grim expression on his face.

"I still…" she gasped for breath wincing as the pain in her chest made itself known once more, "love you…Sasuke…kun." She breathed out

((Earlier))

Sasuke walked away, remembering his conversations with her in the past twenty-four hours. Two sentences repeating themselves over and over in his head. It wouldn't leave him alone, this feeling of dread at the back of his mind that something was terribly wrong.

' _But they say third time's a charm, though, right?"_

'_I might as well just get it over with now, instead of stalling for him to have a change of heart.'_

He couldn't bring himself to go home, so he'd stayed at the training grounds, coming out of the bushes and over to the tree that Sakura had mutilated. He traced the scars that the kunai had left on the bark, the feeling of dread increasing. He turned around suddenly, feeling eyes on him, readying for attack, but all he saw was Naruto, tears pouring off his face and a look of sadness and knowing in his eyes.

"You know what she meant, don't you?" Third time's a charm? Get it over with? Every time I've stayed by her side, and I've saved her thinking it for the better. I know, though, that she's already dead inside, all that's left is the shell. Sasuke-teme, all you did was crack the shell, shattering her resolve. Kakashi-sensei- he thinks I'm wrong, he's searching for her, I decided to tell you…Why? Because you are the one she wants to care for her well-being, you're the one who does care for her now, you can't hate her anymore, Sasuke-teme, not after what she's sacrificed for you. You may have old scars from your past, but scars like the one that will be left once Sakura succeeds will be deeper than any wound. Listen to me, you don't want to do this, but I know I can't help… not anymore."

I can't feel the way I did before 

_Don't turn your back on me_

_I won't be ignored_

_Time won't heal this damage anymore_

_Don't turn your back on me_

_I won't be ignored!_

"What're you babbling on about, dobe?"

"Sakura-chan…she's missing. She's going to end it all, her blood is filling the air with its scent."

"What!"

"You hear me, she's going to commit suicide!" Naruto yelled punching the ground, frustrated with the fact that he couldn't help her.

"Damn! Why didn't you tell me before!" Sasuke yelled running past Naruto, putting chakra in his legs to speed up. Sakura's house came into view, and he jumped through the window for the second time that day.

"SAKURA-CHAN! SAKURA!" he yelled in desperation. Nothing but silence answered him. He saw something fluttering taped to the window. He snatched it off, looking at it frantically, anything to save his Sakura.

'_How dare he let **my** Sakura do this to herself while I was gone! Wait…my? Since when did I think of her as mine? O kami, just shut the fuck up Sasuke and think! Damn it! I have to find her!' _he thought in vain to himself. It finally donned on him what the paper he held was: her suicide letter. He slowed down letting the words written on this piece of paper sink in.

Sasuke-kun- 

I realize that to be honest, I do still love you. But I can't, I do, but I shouldn't. The pain in my heart has been growing, it's overwhelmed me, this is the reason I have done this. My heart won't let me forget you, ignore you, or be mad at you for long, and now I can't stand it. You're my disease, and now you've killed me, happy? I am weak, I've known this, and you just pointed the obvious out. Naruto has known I would do this, he just didn't know when. He won't stop me, though, he cares, and that's the difference between you and him, tell everyone I love them, but this is for the better. I'm sorry, but I'll never forgive you…or myself.

-Haruno Sakura

P.S. Don't look for me, you won't find me anyways.

Sasuke clutched the note, he thought he could feel tears brimming, but he wasn't sure…. It had been so long since he'd cried that he'd forgotten what it felt like. He turned around upon hearing footsteps, there stood Kakashi-sensei a look of anguish and worry on his face.

"She's not here in the village, and Naruto refuses to point us towards the scent of her blood, I even went to the Hokage, but she won't do anything. She doesn't want to see her favorite student in pain, and she's willing to let Sakura do what she needs too to be happy. We're the only one that willing to search for her. I'll stay here and try and keep searching, see if she turn up. You search outside the village, you know it better than most. Find her, Sasuke." He disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a determined Sasuke in his wake.

"You've nothing to worry about, I **will **find her." And it was his turn to disappear in smoke and reappear outside her house. He ran to the gate, jumping over it, and taking the same path as Sakura did by following her footsteps on the ground. He saw her lying on the ground being pelted by rain.

Her eyes were dull, and a growing pool of crimson was violating the soil that was to be her grave. It seemed fitting though, as she lay there under a sakura tree for which she was named, a picture of himself and the others held close to her chest. He head a faint whisper from her crumpled form as he drew closer.

"Sasu…ke?" she whispered, he figure she was a little more than delusional. He walked over to her, his instincts telling him to kick her and tell her how weak she was, but his heart, his cold selfish heart, told him to do otherwise. He knelt beside her, his movement slow and steady to make sure that if she was conscious she wouldn't fight him. He picked her arm up, feeling for anything that resembled a pulse. Nothing. All he could do now was hope and pray that she still had a heartbeat. He laid his head down on her chest tentatively, blushing slightly as he could the well-rounded soft mounds of flesh beneath the black and green cloths of her shirts. There it was, a slight beating sound, but the speed was decreasing, if he didn't get her back to Konoha – she would die.

"DAMN! Sakura, you better not die! I thought you said you were strong!" he yelled as he picked her up along with the deathly kunai. He sped to the gates of Konoha once again jumping over the huge piece of architecture. Naruto stood in front of him; a look of hurt, worry, and anger on his face.

"Sasuke-teme why? Why'd you save her, let her die in peace, let her die happily – she screamed when she did that to herself, she went through a lot of pain, sweat, blood, and tears to do that all leading up to this; her one happy moment in death. Why can't you accept that?" he growled out, clenching his fists together.

"Why? Because she told me she'd gotten stronger, if she dies- it proves me right, that she's weaker than she was before! Get out of my way, dobe! I refuse to allow her to die, understand!"

"Tell me this, bastard – Do you love her?"

"What's that have to do with anything? Sakura's life is on the line here!"

"If you don't love her, than don't help her or save her, STOP PLAYING HERO, SASUKE! She'll just do it again – this," he said picking her wrist up and rubbing the cut lightly with his thumb, "If you love her, I won't stop you. Sakura loves you, if you save her because you love her too, I have a little hope that she won't try this again. But if you're saving her, because low and behold you are human and don't want to see someone you've known all you life die before your eyes; don't waste your time. Just don't do it, because until she succeeds she'll repeat this incident over and over, but I can promise next time- if there is a next time- she'll make it a hell of a lot harder to find her. So which is it?" Naruto asked his blue eyes never once leaving the precious kunoichi's face. He cupped her cheek, rubbing his thumb across her cold dying flesh.

"She's not dead yet, ya know. If you hurry, I suppose she'll make it." Naruto said grimly. Sasuke would never admit to loving her to him, there was no use trying. Once Sasuke had disappeared with Sakura he turned around gazing at the bush with that sad look in his eyes.

"I know you're there, Kakashi-sensei, what do you want?" his whimpered, his voice pathetic.

"I came to stop you if you decided to fight Sasuke."

"I didn't, I should've, but I just couldn't bring myself to allow someone that I love as a sister die."

"You may have the demon fox inside you Naruto, but you're still human, I would've worried about you had you become that cold hearted."

"I just hope Sakura forgives me for letting him pass and telling him in the first place while he still had time to save her."

"She will, if I'm right that Sasuke indeed loves her of course."

"For her sake, and mine, I pray that you're right."

Sasuke held Sakura close to his chest the entire way to the hospital. And even than once he'd reached the hospital it took some effort to let her go. Now he sat in a chair and waited to be told if she would love- or not. Naruto's words flashed through his head the entire wait.

'So which is it?'

'Do I love her or not? I know I did, but now I'm not really too sure. I know how she's lived since I left, and I know the jealousy and anger that I feel because Naruto seems to know more about her than anyone, that loser." He mumbled to himself. He saw a nurse finally walk out of the room where they had taken Sakura. The nurse shook her head sadly: there was almost no chance that Sakura, his cherry blossom, would live.

He sat there in the completely bleached white room all alone with Sakura. A mask covered her nose and mouth, giving her oxygen, a needle stuck in her arm giving her blood, and a heart monitor kept making the infernal beeping noise every once in awhile. Around two AM though, they took the machines off, all except the heart monitor, and that was to help Sasuke accept that there was no hope. He stood beside her bed, a hand on her cheek, sliding his thumb over her flesh again and again and again. She wasn't as cold, but still no one could survive at this temperature for long. It was getting close to four in the morning now, but Sasuke was use to this…insomnia helped at times.

"Sakura- you told me you were stronger- do you really want to prove me right by dying, dying means you're weaker than before because dying means you've given up, I know you're not though. So prove me wrong Sakura! Dammit prove me wrong! I beg of you to just prove me wrong." Tear were beginning to gather around his eyes, "Sakura…if you die you're weaker than before, because when we were still genin…you had the will to live and refused with every fiber of your being to die. So that in a life threatening situation you were able to gain strength! Sakura answer me DO YOU WANT TO BE WEAK!" he told her, it was then that her heart monitor told everyone – she was dead. Sasuke, though before anyone could've ever heard it smashed it into pieces.

"Sakura, I won't allow you to die, stop being so selfish and think of Naruto, think of Kakashi-sensei, think of Ino, Hinata, everyone, me! If not anyone else think of your parents, Sakura! Would they be proud of their daughter and what you've done! Would they- ANSWER ME SAKURA!" Nothing. He'd lost the battle- one of the few battles that he'd ever lost when it involved a girl. He kissed her softly on the lips, to prove to himself that she was really dead. Her lips were cold. He turned to walk off his head in his hand, his entire being shadowed with grief. That was until he head a faint choking noise, which turned into a full out cough.

"Sakura? You're alive?" whispered Sasuke. Sakura coughed again, blood splattering her hand. Her eyes widened, a fearful look as she inspected her hand, the bandages were gone! She breathed, inhaling sharply when she noticed a certain person standing in the doorway, tears streaming from his eyes.

"Holy fuck! Why am I alive still? DAMN IT! What happened? No one was supposed to find me! Naruto! That rat, he blabbed didn't he?" the distraught, and conscious pink haired kunoichi demanded. Sasuke stood there…she was alive! She was alive!

"Naruto gave me a hint, but I was the one who found you, Naruto even put up a fight at the gate telling me to let you be happy."

"Why didn't you listen to him, you damn bastard!"

"I listen to Kakashi-sensei more than I'd ever listen to that dobe."

"AH!" Sakura yelled in frustration, "It isn't fair! It isn't fair, why won't you let me have 'my' way just once, Uchiha? Why?"

"Because your way is selfish– "

"But at least my way isn't going to make people go insane with worry. Your way made me wonder every day, "Is he alive and well? Dead? Sick? Has he killed his brother yet? Has he found another girl that's replaced me?" she sobbed, "Every time they wake up and think of me those questions will never come to them because they'll know, I died because of suicide from a kunai knife under a sakura tree right outside of Konoha's gates. They'll know all of that." She sobbed

"Sakura?"

"Are you that dense! I've been lying to myself, Kakashi-sensei told me I was, Naruto said I was and all this time I've been to blind to see it! I know you, you don't even care about me, much less love me!"

"Than why the hell would I have saved you, Sakura? Who did you think it was, Naruto? Kakashi-sensei couldn't find you in the village, and Naruto was doing everything he could to stop us from finding you and bringing you back!"

I can't feel the way I did before

Don't turn you back on me

I won't be ignored

Time won't heal this damage anymore

Don't turn your back on me

I won't be ignored!

"Sakura, how could I hate you? I've been sitting in here holding your hand, praying to every Kami I know to make you live. I can't feel the way I did before about you, Itachi is dead, Orochimaru is dead, all that's left for me to do is to restore my clan. I could've chosen any girl in any village that I've ever been too. Which village did I choose, Sakura?"

"This one." She said whimpering quietly like a child being scolded by her parents.

"And who is the only pink haired kunoichi in Konoha that I know and have grown up with?"

"Me." She said sniffling a bit, she never did like being yelled at.

"Than tell me, where is the same girl that I came back for?"

"Dead." She spat loosing the meekness that had overwhelmed her earlier.

"No, she's not Sakura-chan. She's not dead, you just have to bring her back. She's inside of you, but you aren't her, the girl I love has a heart." He almost spat at her but said is with a solemn expression on his face. Sakura cried harder, her beautiful emerald eyes filled with tears and she couldn't bring herself to look Sasuke. Sasuke went back over to her bed, gently putting a hand under her chin, and lifting her head up.

"But crying shows kindness and emotion, emotion comes from the heart." He told her, she finally lifted her eyes to meet his. As she did this she failed to notice him moving in, and was surprised to feel his lips against her own. Her eyes widened as he deepened the kiss, but before he could do more Sakura pushed him away; her anger had returned. She spat on the floor beside her bed, glaring daggers at him.

"Bastard…" she growled out.

**A/N: Hey everyone, I've updated, it took me longer than I thought, but as I said before, it is a story, though the first chapter and second chapter have lyrics to the song of LP called Faint…I love that song…anywho, please review! Thankies.**


	3. Matchmaker Elves

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto alright! Just don't sue me and we'll be on good terms n.n**

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A/N: Sorry for the long update, haven't had that much time between band, church, and homework to type any, so this chapter might be a little shorter than most, but deal with me here, k. I'd appreciate it. On with Chapter 3 of Reflections of a Broken Kunoichi!****

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Reflections of a Broken Kunoichi: Chapter 3

**By: Mitsurufangirl009**

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ReCap on last chapter:_**

_"But crying shows kindness and emotion, emotion comes from the heart." He told her, she finally lifted her eyes to meet his. As she did this she failed to notice him moving in, and was surprised to feel his lips against her own. Her eyes widened as he deepened the kiss, but before he could do more Sakura pushed him away; her anger had returned. She spat on the floor beside her bed, glaring daggers at him._

"_Bastard…" she growled out._

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Who should show up at the door during this showdown but the number one knuckle headed ninja, Naruto.

"Sakura-chan! You're alive, I'm so happy, you don't know how worried I was about you!" he told her, racing by Sasuke, and her hugging her tightly.

"Erm, Naruto, that kinda hurts." She managed to breathe out. He let go abruptly and looked at her sheepishly, "Naruto, I want to thank you." She said quietly, her anger toned down since her quarrel with Sasuke.

"Eh? Why? What'd I do?" he asked, his eyes opening and looking slightly bewildered.

"You've always been there for me even when I'm being an idiot. I was stupid to ask that of you when I asked if you wouldn't tell them where I was," her voice hardened here, "and you did your job. You hardened your heart towards me even though it was tearing you apart. And for that I'm sorry. That's all that I'm sorry for, though." She snapped, looking with pure loathing at Sasuke. Naruto noticed this and looked back at the former teammate, who simply shrugged in response from his place leaned up on the wall. "I really do appreciate you being there for me even when I took it for granted and hated the fact that you cared so much and that you kept trying to help me, I still hate it but I've found that you were doing it out of care and compassion. So thanks for being a true friend when others decided to betray me."

"Anything for a friend, Sakura-chan, believe it!" A sigh escaped from everyone in the room. The three comrades talked for awhile, and Sakura was released, but Tsunade has a little something else to add to the whole thing…

Two member of Team 7 awaited entrance to speak with Tsunade-san, who had summoned them in the first place, finally Sasuke and Sakura were let in, net ever realizing that Tsunade had decided, with slight help from Kakashi, to play matchmaker elf with the two hot tempered teens. They entered cautiously almost fearfully, with Tsunade giving punishments you never know what could happen to you, and the mischievous gleam in her eye didn't help the queasy feeling in their stomach in the least.

"Sakura- I have realized that what you did wasn't unprovoked, but it was still very irresponsible and selfish, you broke under pressure, indeed a lot of pressure, but you still broke nonetheless. That could be fatal in a mission, and we can't afford to lose any missions to irresponsibility. And to see that you'll never do that or your little habit again…Uchiha Sasuke, you will stay with Haruno Sakura at al times. That includes missions, which she shouldn't have anyways but just in case, and at her home, understood?" Sasuke gave a nod to indicate that he understood, "I suggest you pack a few things Uchiha, you'll be there awhile…Any objections?" Tsunade asked, looking smugly pleased with herself. Sakura glared all the while this had gone on, and finally she lost it. Slamming her fists on the desk, she yelled, "My word should be enough, there is no need for me to be monitored- especially by him!" she growled out.

"It has already been decided, Sakura, your objections are overruled. The question was directed at Uchiha. So?" she looked expectantly at him.

"I have no objections to this." He said nonchalantly. Sakura screamed in aggravation and fury, while Kakashi simply leaned against the wall behind Tsunade watching their scheme play out.

"Then it's agreed. Kakashi, escort Sakura home, and make sure she stays there until Uchiha arrives from his home. K? K. You're all dismissed now." She told them, yawning loudly. Sakura growled as Kakashi pushed her out the door, one hand on her shoulder, and Sasuke went to pack his things from his house.

"Sakura's eyes never left the ground as Kakashi kept one hand on her shoulder, leading her to her house. Her hands were clenched at her sides and her teeth were gritted as she muttered curses to both her sensei's decisions and Sasuke.

"Ya know, this might be a little better than the original punishment."

"And what would that be?" she snapped back.

"To cahin you and Sasuke, and Naruto together instead of just making you live with Sasuke. Think of taking a shower with them two chained to your wrist." Sakura shivered in disgust at the though.

"Just don't expect me to feed him."

"I don't, but he might."

"Well you know where he can shove it."

"Heh heh….Ah Sasuke, speak of the devil, I'll leave it to you now…a bit of warning to you though, she bites." Kakashi said, removing his now throbbing hand from Sakura's mouth, the minute he had mentioned Sasuke's name she'd bit down on the fleshy part of his hand instead of just one finger. He held his wounded hand and smiled good-naturedly, the bite hadn't gone unprovoked, but it wasn't him she had to blame for this…okay, yes it was, but since when did she need to know things like that. Kakashi still held her shoulder with his unwounded hand, his grip a lot tighter than before.

"I won't run away Kakashi-sensei, you can let go." She said as sweetly and innocently as she could.

"It's not nice to lie, Sakura." She looked glared disdainfully at her former sensei, he knew her way too well. Sasuke slowly came behind her, placing an offending hand on her other shoulder, his grip almost tighter than Kakashi's. Kakashi let go and disappeared in a happy puff of smoke. He pushed her along just as Kakashi had done as a long silence ensued.

"Why do you hate me so much, Sakura?" he asked gently.

"You saved me when I didn't want to be saved- I have every right to hate you." She spat.

"Hn," he said more to himself than to anyone. He let his grip slacken as he lost himself in though, this was his first mistake. He then took his eyes off of Sakura's hands: his second mistake. His third mistake: he let his guard down around a woman who was ready to kill him. Sakura noticed all of these mistakes, and her smile grew wider with each. Finally after his third mistake, she quickly snatched a kunai knife from Sasuke's holster, and wrenching herself from his grasp, jumped a good couple of feet away.

"Now Sasuke-kun, let's have a training session, one-on-one. You try to kill me, and I try to kill you. No holding back and no mercy. Got it?" she smarted off, a sadistic grin spreading across her face. Before he could ever voice his objection, Sakura charged him, aiming for his chest with kunai, but she disappeared before she attacked. Sasuke, from habit, began to use his sharingan.

"You won't win with that Sasuke-kun!" her voice chanted, but it was echoed almost like she was everywhere around him.

"Sakura, stop this!" he pleaded, he didn't want to hurt her anymore: physically or emotionally.

"Here!" she yelled as she came out of one of the trees, but Sasuke caught her wrist that had the hand holding the kunai attached to it all before she could strike. She gasped, dropping her guard for a mere second, but that was all he needed to knock her unconscious. He carried her bridal style all the way to her, or at least for the time being, their house.

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A/N: 'Ello folks, this is the shortest chappie in this story so far, but bear with me, I'm really tired and it's passed my bedtime…I'm supposed to be in the shower…oh well….anywho please review I only got 7 reviews last chapter, let's try and make it a 13 this time….that's a minimum just so you know there is no maximum….yeah. I don't want to get my hopes up that's why there isn't a maximum. Fwee! Anywho, Mimi-chan (me) is almost an 8th grader! GO ME! Okay…by the way I just ended a gladiatorial war between me and my friend….yup, there went my pride flying out the window too. Later everyone!**

**P.S. I would like to say that if I get 13 reviews, I'll update a lot faster than I did! (Sorry for the long A/N)**


	4. Attempt to Fail

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

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A/N: I'm so sorry people, I decided that I really needed to update, considering I said reviewing would help me update faster, so although it's rather short, it does hold vital information to the story, so here's chapter 4. And THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS I GOT! They made me really happy, all 18 reviews for chapter 3.****

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Reflections of a Broken Kunoichi: Chapter 4

**by: Mitsurufangirl009 **

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ReCap on Last Chapter**_

"_Now Sasuke-kun, let's have a training session, one-on-one. You try to kill me, and I try to kill you. No holding back and no mercy. Got it?" she smarted off, a sadistic grin spreading across her face. Before he could ever voice his objection, Sakura charged him, aiming for his chest with kunai, but she disappeared before she attacked. Sasuke, from habit, began to use his sharingan._

"_You won't win with that Sasuke-kun!" her voice chanted, but it was echoed almost like she was everywhere around him. _

"_Sakura, stop this!" he pleaded, he didn't want to hurt her anymore: physically or emotionally._

"_Here!" she yelled as she came out of one of the trees, but Sasuke caught her wrist that had the hand holding the kunai attached to it all before she could strike. She gasped, dropping her guard for a mere second, but that was all he needed to knock her unconscious. He carried her bridal style all the way to her, or at least for the time being, their house._

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The moon shone through the balcony curtains, letting a cool breeze flow the dark room. Sakura awoke as she felt the refreshing air caressed her face and her emerald eyes opened. She sat up confused as to where she was for a moment, the memories of her rather short fight with Sasuke returned to her as she looked around at the familiar room. Naruto had been there again as blood had been on her windowsill as she'd left and the room had a clean scent to it instead of the decaying one that made her vomit occasionally. She glanced at the clock beside her bed that flashed the dreadful fluorescent green numbers that told her it was around midnight. She was about to get up and go walking like she semi-normally did when she couldn't sleep. That was until she caught a glimpse of black hair near the floor. She threw back the covers and tentatively put a foot on the ground. It suddenly hit her that she was no longer wearing her shoes anymore, of course it wasn't hard to figure out that Sasuke had probably taken them off for her as she'd been unconscious.

"Sasuke-kun…" she whispered longingly, she almost wanted to him to embrace her and shower her with affection, but with as much trouble and pain as she'd been put through because of him, she couldn't allow herself to do such. Besides, rule twenty-five of conduct: Shinobi must never show their emotions ((me: or something to that effect, I can't remember it fully)), right? Right. And she would not be the weak little girl she'd been at twelve years old. He was sleeping soundly on the futon he'd from his home, his even breathing calmed her slightly as she took in the image of her childhood crush. The moonlight shone on his relaxed face with his shaggy black hair framing his pale white face perfectly. She smiled a little as she remembered the kiss he'd given her, it was true that she was furious for the extremely rude act, but the fact was…she really did still love him, she just refused to accept it. He still the heartthrob he was as a genin, and at the age of eighteen, he was no different; at least through her eyes he was the same cold-hearted, arrogant, and quick-tempered boy she'd fawned over. But the old Sasuke-kun wouldn't ever even thought of saving her from something so weak, much less kiss her; reality was beginning to dawn on Sakura rather harshly, and Sakura scoffed and glared at the floor at this thought. She wasn't happy with this reality; therefore, she wouldn't live with it. Suicide wasn't an option any longer; the pain she'd been through was agonizing and thwarted in the end. She needed something that would just take her away from Konoha's reality.

"Fine then, I may not be able to kill myself, but if I can get far enough away from Konoha, it shouldn't be too hard to find someone or something willing to kill." She whispered to herself, brushing a pink strand of hair behind her ear.

She slowly put both feet on the floor and stood up, being as silent as she could with creaking floorboards. She took a step towards the balcony and looked back at Sasuke to see if he'd been awoken by the noise, if he caught her, she wasn't ever going to get away. She began walking, taking slow and small steps as to not to wake the sleeping male. She sighed as she finally made it past Sasuke and was only about five steps towards the balcony where she'd finally be free. It was then that something, more specifically someone, grasped her ankle, she let out a high pitched squeak and turned around slowly to find out what the offending object that had stopped her was. She looked down only to see Sasuke's onyx eyes staring at her, his hand grasping her ankle.

"You **are** a jonin, aren't you? If you're going to run away, act like one, or else acting like a genin fresh out of the academy will get you caught." He stated boldly. She sighed, her anger and determination dwindling rapidly.

"You need sleep, Sakura, go back to bed." He stated, yawning slightly at the end of the sentence. She cursed under her breath.

"Gurg- it's not like I'll sleep anyways, you take the bed, you really look uncomfortable on the futon." She said sweetly, hoping her plan would work, but the possibility it would slip by Sasuke was rather slim.

"Nice try, Sakura-chan, it's not going to work, though. You would wait until I went to sleep on the bed and you would be closest to the balcony, I'm tried, not stupid." He said coolly. Sakura's shoulders sagged slightly.

"Well, I was honestly trying to be nice and give you the bed, it just had an…alternative motive…behind it."

"I won't unless you're right beside me, got it?" he asked rather sternly. Sakura pondered this for a moment, she didn't want Sasuke to be uncomfortable, she really was honest about that part, but she didn't technically want to be "sleeping" with him, nor did she like the idea of being caught again by the Uchiha Genius. The temptation would be too great if she just went back to bed, and it left her with only one option and one answer.

"Fine." He waited until she made towards the bed to release her ankle, Sasuke slowly got up from the futon and got on the bed with her, she being the farthest from the balcony opening. She was facing the clock, oh the dreadful clock with its flashing green numbers of doom! She sighed knowing that sleep was futile with events of the past three days replaying in her head. She suddenly felt something warm wrap around her waist and pull her close. Sasuke's arm was wrapped her with his head nestled right next to her ear. His warm breath tickled her ear as she gasped at the warmth that had encircled her.

"Sleep," he ordered, "You won't be going anywhere until morning." He whispered, she shivered from the feeling of his breath on her ear and felt him tighten his grip around her waist and then slacken, proving he wasn't going to let go. She smiled gently to herself as she closed her eyes and slowly fell into a fitful sleep in Sasuke's arms. Sasuke stared at the kunoichi in his arms, a small smirk playing on his lips, as he himself began to enter the wonderful of sleep.

Unbeknownst to either of them, a figure watched through blood red eyes through the side of the balcony. The figure smiled maliciously as the cool wind brought cherry blossoms fluttering around his head, he grabbed at one, inhaling the lovely sweet scent before crushing the flower in his palm and letting it be taken by the wind, "Soon little brother, soon you **will** be crushed." The figure laughed as he disappeared into the night, the beginnings of a plan forming in his twisted mind.

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A/N: I'm going to apologize ahead of time, I'm really sorry if my story only gets worse from here, because I am fairly new to Naruto, and I don't really know much about Itachi other than the fact that he murdered his own family, is Sasuke's older brother, and is apart of the Akatsuki, which I don't what is. So… that being said, if anyone is willing to give me some information about Itachi and the Akatsuki, I would really appreciate it. Please Review! I really hope to update soon, but no promises.**


	5. The Beginning of the End

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

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A/N: I'm evil!!! Yes! Finally my transformation has begun! Oops…Anyways, yes to all who have wondered and reviewed, Itachi is indeed alive and I did say that he was dead, but no one ever told me authors can't lie in a story right? Oh goodie the plot thickens! Just to let you all know, I've been very happy with myself lately, cuz originally it was a mistake, but no longer is it a mistake! I made a plan, a very evil plan, a very evil plan of doom! Yes! Okay….I'm done now, so on with the next chapter!**

**P.S. I'm SO sorry for the VERY LONG update. But news on my life will be at the end of chapter A/N.**

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Reflections of a Broken Kunoichi: Chapter 5

**By: Mitsurufangirl009**

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ReCap on last chapter_

"_Sleep," he ordered, "You won't be going anywhere until morning." He whispered, she shivered from the feeling of his breath on her ear and felt him tighten his grip around her waist and then slacken, proving he wasn't going to let go. She smiled gently to herself as she closed her eyes and slowly fell into a fitful sleep in Sasuke's arms. Sasuke stared at the kunoichi in his arms, a small smirk playing on his lips, as he himself began to enter the wonderful of sleep._

_Unbeknownst to either of them, a figure watched through blood red eyes through the side of the balcony. The figure smiled maliciously as the cool wind brought cherry blossoms fluttering around his head, he grabbed at one, inhaling the lovely sweet scent before crushing the flower in his palm and letting it be taken by the wind, "Soon little brother, soon you **will** be crushed." The figure laughed as he disappeared into the night, the beginnings of a plan forming in his twisted mind._

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Sasuke smiled as he looked at the kunoichi snuggled against his chest and a small smile playing at her lips. He was rather happy with himself as well; he thought he was making great progress! Not that he would ever say that aloud, but it was nice to think about. He stroked her hair softly, marveling at how soft it was. She truly was an amazing girl, no, a woman now. She was strong when it was called for, even when it wasn't, she still stood firm with her beliefs, even when **he**, himself, disagreed. Sakura had been going out with the others more and more lately, Naruto had welcomed Sakura back into the group with open arms, Neji, Hinata, Kiba, Lee, and Ten Ten were all happy to see the old Sakura back. He knew she was just trying to get rid of him and fool everyone into believing she was okay, but he knew better.

It had become a daily routine for them; she'd cook breakfast for the two of them, though at first he thought he was going to starve because she refused to cook for him. But after much reluctance and about a month's time span she'd begun to cook and welcome him back. They would train with Kakashi and Naruto in the morning, they'd come home later in the afternoon, maybe shop a little. They'd both report to Tsunade and Sasuke would report on Sakura's condition. Sakura would once again try to prove that she was perfectly normal and that she'd just been so depressed and it wouldn't ever happen again. To prove she was normal she'd begun to call him 'Sasuke-kun' once again and hug him constantly like she'd done in the old days. They'd go back home and he'd cook lunch, and then maybe they'd just walk around the village or go to the park, etc. They'd go back home and wait for the loud knocking at the door and go with Naruto and the gang to the Ichiraku Ramen Stand for dinner. They all walked each other home, with Sasuke and Sakura being the first to be dropped off. Sakura would then take a shower and get ready for bed, than Sasuke would take his shower and join her under the sheets. He enjoyed it every single moment, but there was always the pain in his heart as he remembered why he was getting to do this, and the realization always would come to him that she wasn't the old Sakura…he had a feeling the old Sakura was gone for good….

Although he appreciated the loving attention from her that he'd missed for so long, he knew it wasn't true and genuine. Her eyes still lacked the spark and cheeriness they'd once held, they were still dull and lifeless just like when he'd first arrived back in Konoha. He sighed; he truly missed the beautiful smile of hers. It had always brought an unusual warmth to his heart, even when he'd pushed her away, when she smiled it was like heaven had opened up and graced them with the beauty of an angel. Now, where the hell had his angel from heaven gone?

Sakura's eyes fluttered open, the emerald orbs looking at Sasuke with confusion before the world reloaded into her brain. She smiled and just snuggled closer to him, he hugged her closer, smiling softly to himself, and she truly was a good actress.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun!" she said happily, it almost made him gag that it was so fake.

"Morning," He said and small smirk playing at his lips as he brushed a lock of pink hair behind her ear. She just grinned happily and got up to fix breakfast, oh how he loved to wake up to this. Even it was purely pretend, it was how he wished it really was. She was already downstairs by the time the phone rang. Sasuke just groaned and rolled over, putting a pillow over his head.

"Moshi, moshi, Haruno residence. May I ask whose calling?"

"Moshi, moshi, Sakura-chan. It's Ten-ten. I just wanted to know if you wanted to go on a Girls Night Only with me and Ino, Hinata, who we kind of bribed to go, and Temari."

"Erm, lemme ask Sasuke-kun. K?"

"K. I don't plan on going anywhere, I swear." Ten-ten said laughing over the phone.

"K." Sakura put the phone face down on the table and ran up the stairs to their bedroom.

"Sasuke-kun? Ten-ten wants to know if I can go with and the rest of the girls on a Girls Night Only. Can I go?" She asked earnestly. He looked at her, the pitiful puppy-dog eyes were too much to say no. He nodded and groaned, as he lazily covered his eyes with his arm.

"Really? Arigatou gozaimousu, Sasuke-kun!" she said happily as she ran back downstairs. He groaned, this had trouble written all over it. Sakura hadn't been alone without him for three months now, and even if what he thought was acting was genuine, he still wasn't absolutely trusting. Should Sakura come to harm, from herself or anyone else, it would be his fault. Although, he doubted Ino would let her out of her sight. Whatever they'd gotten in a fight over, that had made Ino want nothing to do with her, they'd gotten over it quickly enough once they actually spoke to each other. They were now the bestest of friends just as they had been when he'd left. Things were beginning to seem normal again.

He didn't realize just how wrong he was with that statement.

Sakura was extremely proud of herself, she'd been able to actually look good, not casual, but _good_ tonight. Sasuke stared at her from the doorway. If this was Girls Only Night, why did it look like she was getting dressed to go out with a hott date? She turned around staring at him with a worried glance before looking down at the hot pink halter top and black mini skirt.

"What? Does it not look good on me? I knew I should of worn the other outfit!" she said as she began to grumble and looked back at the mirror for reassurance.

"No, Sakura, you look great, really." He said smirking a little as she turned around, all signs of frustration gone as she smiled gleefully.

"Really? You're not just saying that?"

"No, do I give compliments often, Sakura?"

"To me you do."

"That's because you deserve them." She blushed at this comment, and began putting on eyeliner and glitter around her eyes. She put on hot pink and black striped knee-high socks and combat boots. If you had asked Sasuke at that moment to describe his cherry blossom. The word would've been, '_sexy'._

The door bell rang as she had just finished brushing her hair. She ran past Sasuke, who tried to trip her on her way out just to see if she'd fall. She stumbled, and he got himself kicked in the shin with a combat boot which resulted in him rolling around on the floor clutching his bruised shin. She went downstairs and opened the door, to have Ino and Ten-ten pounce on her, telling her how adorable she looked.

"Oh my gosh, Sakura-chan! How did you manage to get even cuter than you already were, forehead?" Ino asked as she let go of her 'adopted' little sister as she now thought of her. Ten-ten agreed, and asked if she was ready to go.

"Let me go see if Sasuke's able to stand yet and tell him we're going. Then I'll be ready."

"What? Is Sasuke like your keeper or something." Sakura twitched unnoticeably before turning around with a rather serious expression.

"Ten-ten, you have no earthly idea how close you are to the actual answer." She said before running back upstairs. Sure enough, Sasuke was slowly getting up as she arrived on the top floor.

"We're leaving Sasuke-kun, go eat ramen at the Ichiraku with Naruto tonight. Maybe y'all can have an All Boys Night Out, not to sure that would be much fun, but you're going to be here alone tonight, so it has to be better than that, no? Well, anywho, laters." She said, getting a quick hug from him before dashing back down and leaving with the rest of them.

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A/N: Short and choppy, I know, but it will get better, I swear if I can have 100 reviews (total not just for one chapter) by the time I start on Chapter 7, which should be the second to last chapter unless I make another short and choppy one, I will get the ending up as fast as I can. Alas, ROABK is coming to an end. This is the beginning of the end folks, two more plot twists and then I'll have my entire time to spend working on LBFO. YAY! I love acronyms**

**P.S. The bf I told you about broke up with Sep. 30th and my bf now, whom I absolutely love and would die for if need be, asked me out Nov. 3! He took me out on my first ever date Nov. 17th. Feel the glee, as it is radiating from my direction!**


	6. Unpleasant Discoveries

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I swear, so no suing, it'd be mean…**

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A/N: I'm sorry for another long update, I haven't been able to get on the computer much for reasons that aren't going to be said. By the by, if you've read chapter 5 as an A/N please reread it as it has been replaced with an actual chapter that's semi-vital to the story…so yea. Enjoy!**_

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ReCaP on Last Chapter_

"_We're leaving Sasuke-kun; go eat ramen at the Ichiraku with Naruto tonight. Maybe y'all can have an All Boys Night Out, not to sure that would be much fun, but you're going to be here alone tonight, so it has to be better than that, no? Well, anywho, laters." She said, getting a quick hug from him before dashing back down and leaving with the rest of them. _

_End ReCaP_

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Reflections of a Broken Kunoichi

**Chapter 6: Unpleasant Discoveries**

**by Mitsurufangirl009**

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Sasuke looked at the others that had gathered at the Ichiraku while all the women were out for whatever they were doing. Naruto, Kiba, Lee, Shikamaru, Neji, and him were all seated on the stools eating ramen quietly; it was rather unnerving- even for Sasuke- especially for Sasuke!

Naruto finally broke the silence and spoke up, "Sasuke-teme, we've been wanting to know for awhile if you and Sakura are going out yet."

"What the hell? We are not going out!"

"Well you are living together, you can't exactly blame us for thinking such," interjected Neji.

"You all know why I'm living with her." He grumbled, it was true, they all knew, they just had hoped that she'd gotten better and he was living with her for his own reasons now.

"Tsunade still hasn't released your ward? It's been, what? Almost half a year since she ordered you to live with her! Why hasn't she released her yet?"

"Because if you lived with her, you would know, this is just an act, it isn't real. She's just acting so I'll get out of her hair, and Tsunade will let her go on missions again." There was a chorus of "oh"s and "ah" s.

"Sakura is just too sweet and youthful to be suicidal, it just isn't right!" Lee shouted out, beginning his dramatic event that would be the first of many during the night.

"Yeah, well, obviously, she doesn't feel the same way."

"Sasuke, you do love her don't you?" Neji asked, not even turning his head. Silence immediately fell over the rowdy boys.

"Yes, that's why this whole thing is so frustrating, because she just wants me out of her life for good so she can go back to doing what she was doing, and be able to go on missions again. That's why she really wants to do. Missions is all she talks about, past missions, missions she's wanted to go on, missions that she wished were assigned to the leaf village, kinda like a broken record." The boys all nodded understandingly. Well, this wasn't how he'd planned to spend the night, but he supposed it was better than sitting at Sakura's house without Sakura.

The sound of laughter filled the club, Ten-ten had managed to get them into the club for free, and here they all at the bar at the back of the club drinking sake by the gallons. The bartender just laughed along with them, wondering if any guys in the club would cause trouble tonight with five very drunk women.

"So Sakura, how far have you and Sasuke-kun gone?"

"He kisses me, but that's it, we sleep together, but it's not like we _do_ anything."

"You know, you'd think with Sasuke, he'd be like, a sex-god!" a drunk Ino announced, "My Shikamaru is!!! What about you, Ten-ten, how's Neji?"

"Mm! He's wonderful! I bet he's even better than Shikamaru! What about you Hinata-chan? Have you and Naruto done it?" Ten-ten said winking and laughing at the slightly shaking Hinata. Before she could answer, she fell off her stool to the floor, passed out from the large amount of alcohol intake. They all laughed, and Ten-ten volunteered to take her to the bathroom and try to wake her up. Soon the two girls were pushing past the neon purple door with the stick figure of a girl in a triangular sign.

"Wow, who knew lil Hina-chan coo drink soooooooo much!" Ino yelled gleefully slurring her words.

"Actalay, I tink it ust her lack of bein' alle to hol' her alcohol." Sakura said drowsily. She, too, was about ready to pass out, "Hey Ino, I don' wanna en' up like Hin-chan, I goin' home." Sakura said slowly stumbling out the door. She called a cab, and was able to go home safely. He drove her to her residence and she paid him, a lot more than she should've, but really, she was drunk, counting yen is out of the question.

She turned the doorknob, expecting it to be unlocked considering Sasuke was such a party-pooper. It wasn't though, she rummaged through her purse, and upon finding her key she slid it in the lock and opened the door.

"Sasuke-kun! I'm home!" she said with much effort as she was doing her best to make sure Sasuke didn't see her this drunk.

"Hello, cherry blossom, and how are you this find eve?" a colder and deeper voice than Sasuke's answered her.

"You! You're not Sasuke-kun! Get out! 'Dis is my house!!!!" she yelled pointing at the door, demanding he leave.

"Oh don't worry, cherry blossom, I won't be here long, I just came to get something."

"And what would that be?"

"You." He said suddenly appearing right in front of her, he was holding her chin, and staring into her confused emerald orbs. All that she saw before hit her neck was swirling red eyes…the sharingan.

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A/N: I'm pretty proud of myself, I wrote this in a day, while coughing my head off! Panda glee! I went to see Eragon last night, t'was a pretty good movie. They screwed up the book as always, but if you remove that, it's pretty good, a little fast at the beginning though. Meh boyfriend took me for my third date with him!!! Fwee!**

**Next- Chapter (second to last chapter!) 7: Bleeding Blossoms**


	7. Bleeding Blossoms

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or anybody else, nor am I doing this for profit. All belongs to the great Kishimoto-san!**

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A/N: Sorry for the long update again. I just got over the flu. Anywho, I'm not gonna spend much time here saying things this time, so enjoy the chapter, the next one will end the story.****

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WARNING: There is implied rape, but it's only implied, no details.**_

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ReCaP on Last Chapter_

"_Oh don't worry, cherry blossom, I won't be here long, I just came to get something."_

"_And what would that be?"_

"_You." He said suddenly appearing right in front of her, he was holding her chin, and staring into her confused emerald orbs. All that she saw before he hit her neck was swirling red eyes…the sharingan._

_End ReCaP_

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Chapter 7: Reflections of a Broken Kunoichi

**Bleeding Blossoms**

**By Mitsurufangirl009**

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Sasuke couldn't believe that he could actually say he had a good time just talking with his friends. It had been a long time since he'd gotten to do that. He'd missed talking with just the guys without Sakura being there to constantly make him worry. He walked home, silently worrying if Sakura had come home yet, or if she was still out with the girls. He knew where Ten-ten always took her friends on girl's nights out: the bar. That had trouble written all over it, if nothing else Sakura was going to have a hell of a hangover in the morning. He didn't even want to think about how much vomit he was going to have to clean up tomorrow.

"Sakura," he yelled throughout the house as he opened the door and flicked the lights on, "Sakura are you home?" he yelled again. This wasn't right, the door had been unlocked, he saw her purse, and yet Sakura was nowhere to be found. The worst case scenario had already arrived in his thoughts. What if she had tried to kill herself again? Tsunade would kill him if she'd succeeded this time. He rushed to their room, but no Sakura was found, the only thing that could offer any evidence was a leaf village headband with the metal having a single scratch in the middle of the headband going all the way across.

"Itachi…! Damn it! I need to find Sakura…" Sasuke clutched the headband as he ran outside. It was near morning and he needed to find her soon. It wasn't too long into his search that he ran into Ten-ten, swaggering home with an unconscious Hinata over her shoulder.

"HEY! SASUKE-KUN!!! HOW YA BEEN?" she shouted loudly.

"Hey, Ten-ten, have you seen Sakura lately? When did you see her last?"

"A loooong time ago, heh heh, she said she didn't want to pass out like Hina-chan and split, or at least that's what Ino-chan said. Why? Is something wrong?"

"Yea, Sakura isn't at the house. Listen, if you find her, tell her to go home, I gotta go, bye." Sasuke ran off, he had to find Naruto, his nose could find her, it was obvious Itachi had taken Sakura, but why? What would he want with Sakura?

"Unless he knows…damn it! Why didn't I think of it before, he does friggin' know! Gah, I'm an idiot! DAMN IT!" he said, running to find Naruto.

Naruto was sitting in his usual at the Ichiraku, inhaling the ramen that was to be his lunch. He'd had a bad feeling all morning, so here he was trying to eat it off, hoping the feeling would leave him. Alas, it did not, so Naruto just ordered more bowls.

"Dobe, have you seen Sakura?" Naruto looked up from his bowl to see a slightly winded Sasuke standing over him.

"Sasuke?! What're you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Sakura?"

"Answer the damn question, dobe, have you seen Sakura?"

"No."

"Can you find her scent?"

"First tell me why! I don't normally go sniffing around trying to find people with my nose."

"She's missing, she wasn't home when I got there this morning, Ten-ten said she left the bar earlier than the rest of them, but she had to have come home otherwise the door would have still been locked, it wasn't. And this…" Sasuke pulled out the invalid leaf head band from his pocket, "was on the table. Itachi must have gotten her. It has to be, where else would she be?" For a moment the two just stared at each other pondering where else she could be. Finally, Naruto broke the silence.

"**YOU LET HIM TAKE SAKURA?!"** Naruto yelled. Sasuke hit him, before grabbing him by the collar.

"Just find her scent and point me in the direction and I plan to go get her and kill him once and for all. So hurry up, Tsunade-sama can't find out!" Sasuke growled out, this was not the day to scold him.

"I'm coming with you. Sakura's like my sister, and I don't trust you to save her before going after you're brother." Naruto stated pointedly, he didn't trust Sasuke anyways, why should he start now when Sakura's life was in danger?

"Fine." Sasuke threw Naruto down, angered at his own immaturity and lack of ability to do anything to help Sakura, and angered at Naruto for being an idiot that was further preventing him from finding Sakura.

Sakura opened her eyes to bright light shining in her face. She couldn't remember where she was, how she got there, what happened, and why she was here: because this was **not** her house. The door suddenly opened and a figure stepped into the brightly lit wooden room.

"Sasuke-kun?" she asked, feeling slightly nauseated. An evil laugh that sent shivers down her spine was her reply.

"No, my cherry blossom, do you even know where you are?" the person asked, obviously male.

"Not really, it's all kind of fuzzy-" before she could finish she vomited on the floor, boy, did she have a major hangover.

The man looked disgusted at the vomit, but did not voice his disdain towards the action.

"Well let me help you remember." He fingered a kunai and smiled at her. Her brain decided at that moment to start computing the information being given to her.

"Itachi…" she breathed, barely above a whisper did she say his name. She was scared now, she hadn't been without Sasuke by her side for so long, she no longer knew how to act in a situation such as this. She gulped, "What do you want with me, Itachi?"

"Nothing really, you're a lure, bait, if you will." He stated before walking closer to her, she tried to run, but found that her foot had become attached to the wall by a shackle, and she stumbled back. With the chain taunt, she could move no further, and Itachi kept coming closer. He stopped in front of her, bending down so they were face to face. He lifted her chin up slightly with a gentle hand that she knew had killed more innocent people than was able to be counted. Tears had begun to gather at the edges of her eyes. He was nose to nose with her, way to close for comfort. All she could was sit there, her ankle still attached to the wall. She was alone, and no one was coming to save her, she doubted they even knew she was missing. Sasuke was probably glad to have her out of his hair, finally. They probably all thought she gone and tried to kill herself and were still looking for the suicide note that didn't exist in her house. She wouldn't be found, he was going to kill her, or worse. There was so many worse things than death. Her breath hitched as he forced her to stare in his crimson eyes. "You are what will break little Sasuke-kun. When he's runs here to save you, your role will have been played, and you will leave the stage permanently then. After you're gone, my brother will once again renew his quest to kill me with new vigor. That is what I want with you. You are going to help me make an avenger out of my dear little brother."

"Sasuke, but, he said he killed you."

"Ah, he might think that wouldn't he. He almost did, you know. I didn't really think I would live, myself. As always though, things did not go as he had planned, I was healed, and here I am. Sasuke was unconscious before he could see the life go from my eyes, and in the end that will be his undoing. It'll be a wonderful reunion, don't you think?"

"You're despicable!" she yelled and spit in his face.

"You would think that now, wouldn't you,my cherry blossom? But don't we all use others for our own gain sometime in our lives? I've just used more than most." He stated simply, "But enough of this rather uninteresting conversation, let's get you ready for your appearance before the guest of honor." He smiled horribly, still holding the kunai in his hand. Sakura tried to back in to the corner, which was only about two feet away, but she still remained in the same spot. Itachi kicked her into the wall, where she was lying on her side, facing him.

"Are you afraid, cherry blossom?" Tears began to flow freely from Sakura's eyes, _maybe_, she thought, _I'll finally die, or maybe Sasuke will come and save me. Either way, something will happen that will finally make one of my dreams come true. I can't deny I love Sasuke, and I can't deny that I planned to try to kill myself once I was out of Sasuke's care. I didn't want to die by Itachi's hands though…I don't want to go through that kind of pain. I'm afraid…Sasuke-kun, I'm afraid.' _The fear that welled inside her was swallowing her, she couldn't breathe, it was choking her very life. She knew what Itachi had done in the past, she'd heard all the tales, and the destruction his very footsteps left behind. It was then she remembered.

'_What has fear ever brought you, Sakura? Pain, that's all it's ever brought, is more pain, more pain than you can bear. Why're you afraid when you plan to die anyways, it hurts just as bad, more emotionally than physically, all we've done is switch the two. You can't feel pain anymore, remember? You locked that away. Or did you forget because of your precious Sasuke-kun? How dare you let him try to break you again! You know better, Sakura. People were put here to watch you shatter, you've got prove them wrong. This one's just like Sasuke, prove your strong, prove your worth, don't let your fear show, forget you have fear, forget you know that he's hurting you, you can't feel anything physically anyways, why start now? Leave him with just your shell, just like before, no one could break you then, go back to that, where no one can ruin your Utopia. No one can break through that barrier, right?! ANSWER ME! ANSWER ME YOU STUPID GIRL!'_

"I TOLD YOU TO ANSWER ME, CHERRY BLOSSOM!" Sakura snapped back to reality, the fear in her eyes disappeared in an instant as she looked into Itachi's crimson eyes.

"I. Will. Not." She answered flatly. She looked at the damage that had been done in her out of body experience. Her clothes were torn and ripped, he'd gotten a whip at some point in time and her skin was striped from the lashes. She could vaguely feel that she'd gained a couple of broken ribs and she couldn't feel the leg that was shackled to the wall anymore. Itachi stared at her for a moment after her answer, he stopped all actions, he did not blink.

"What did you say, cherry blossom?" he asked giving her a chance to save herself from unbearable pain.

"Are you deaf, Itachi? I told you that I wouldn't." she said spitting, cursing his name. His stare became a glare, his crimson eyes narrowed, it was obvious that his anger was rising, and he was going to show her just how furious he was.

"You **will** regret that, cherry blossom." He growled out. He slammed her against the wall, punching her in the stomach continuously. Sakura simply gritted her teeth and retreated within herself once more, this was how she'd escaped pain before, this was how she'd do it again. Itachi through her across the room, causing the chain to hold her in midair before she fell on the wooden floor, the wood on the wall was now splintered and had a deep depression in it, splats of blood decorated it, and now here she was, laying flat on her face on the floor, she knew that if she ever was to walk again, it wouldn't be for a long while. Sakura raised herself up slowly, leaning on the palms of her hands, trying not to vomit. She couldn't keep the pain from invading her senses as she tried to regain a sitting position. At least in that position, damage could be inflicted but it didn't leave all of her vitals open for target practice. As she finally turned herself over, Itachi took a step closer, sudden adrenaline rushed through her veins, the fear that danced in her eyes was incomparable with any fear she'd felt before. She wanted to scream, and at the same time, try to blend in with her surroundings and hope he wouldn't notice her. He stood in front of her once again, and slowly bent down, grabbing her roughly by the chin.

"I **will **break you, cherry blossom, even if it means defiling your innocence, you will break under my gaze. Stubbornness is unbecoming of one so innocent and pure as yourself; therefore, I shall take it upon myself to rid you of your ugliness so all that will is left will be beautiful." She stared at him with pure horror, she was shaking slightly, and she knew he'd heard the gasp of fear as he'd spoken to her. He was talking about rape. He was talking about raping **_her_**. It was mind blowing, all thoughts she was had been pondering, everything that kept her from falling into the oblivion of fear and submission, seemed to shatter in that instant. She couldn't think. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't scream. She couldn't move. It was as if time had frozen around her alone, and everything seemed to move in slow motion. He smiled horribly, before in one swift movement, he was kissing her. Tears were running down her cheeks, and all she could is stare ahead in shock as Itachi, the most horrible, despicable, murderous bastard ever to walk the planet, kissed her. He pushed her shoulders back roughly, causing her to snap back to reality, the dilated emerald pupils of eyes watching in horror as she was lowered to the floor on her back, and Itachi began straddling her, still deepening the bruising kiss. Sakura could feel her lips beginning to swell, and the fact that Itachi's foreign tongue invaded her mouth, made her want to gag. He finally broke the kiss, Sakura was still in shock and just laid rigidly on the floor underneath him, trembling with terror.

"My cherry blossom, you will be broken, don't think of this as punishment, think of it as a reward for helping me achieve my goal. If you don't, I can persuade you to enjoy this moment in less pleasurable ways." He said, smiling once again. Sakura gulped slightly, this was not how it was supposed to be. She was to remain a virgin for Sasuke, because that was who she'd been saving herself for, she was not supposed to lose her virginity to his brother. Her first time, she was supposed to be willing, not forced. It went against everything that her childish self had planned for her older self. It wasn't fair!

This was cruel, everything was cruel, the people important to her had walked away from her, and she never could catch up, her family was gone, her best friend no longer felt like an equal, but now felt like a caretaker and her keeper. Her life had been taken away when Tsunade had forbid her from missions and her job. Her love had been taken from her, and when she'd finally accepted it, he'd been shoved down her throat. It wasn't fair that everyone had pretended nothing had happened. It wasn't fair that every time she'd gotten enough nerve and had had enough of life to finally attempt to kill herself, she'd been thwarted, three times! It wasn't fair that things could go back to the way they were so easy for Sasuke, yet for her, it seemed as if nothing could ever be the same again, even though she'd been with these people since the day she was born, while Sasuke had left for years. It wasn't fair that now that things finally seemed to have a chance to become normal again, she was taken from her home and her newly remade friends. To make that worse she was taken by Itachi, the brother of the one that had turned her life into a living hell. It wasn't fair that if Sasuke and the others ever did find her that Itachi was going to kill her. It wasn't fair that here she was now getting raped after trying so hard to keep herself pure for the one she truly loved. It wasn't fair that now she finally realizes that she will always love Sasuke, no matter how hard she tries to hide it, and no matter how hard she tries to believe it to be only a small amount of love. No, it is now that she realizes just how deeply in love with him she is. Everything in her life had been unfair. Everything in her life had been cruel. Everything in her life had been lost as some point in time or another. Everything in her life was now just beginning to come back together. Everything in her life, was now shattered into tiny shards of glass that were piercing her soul and making her heart bleed from the inside out.

It had now been a two weeks since Sakura's disappearance. The likelihood of her being found alive was very slim, but they continued there search. Alas, the Hokage had found out about it, but oddly enough, blame was not placed upon Sasuke, but upon herself for not foreseeing an event such as this. Lee, Ten-ten, and Neji were all in a search party together and everyday would search the same part of the forest for any sign of the pink-haired medic-nin. The same was for Ino, Hinata, and Kiba who searched a different part of the forest every day. The last group consisted of Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Naruto who always did their best to search the entirety of the forest every day. It seemed hopeless, they were convinced it was, and upon the last day of the second week, it was assumed she was dead and eaten by animals. A gloom of great distress was settling upon Konoha, and it didn't seem as if it had plans of lifting anytime soon. It was that day, a village near the area that Sasuke's group had been searching had been destroyed, and a single survivor was found among the debris, he was told to give a message to the ninja of the Hidden Leaf when they arrived.

"I was told to tell you by a gray-haired man that he awaits the arrival of his dear brother, and hopes that he will make it for the finale on time. He said that you're sure to find them if you follow the kunai in the forest, and on the third day, you must have finished the trail, and must be waiting at the appointed rendezvous place. If not, you will regret it-" before the man could finish the sentence a kunai shot from the tree killing the man instantly.

"There was no trap lain, so obviously…" Ten-ten said checking the man's pulse to see if there was a possibility of saving him.

"It means, we're being watched." Sasuke finished, glancing at the tree, "We have to hurry, I don't want to know what will happen if we don't reach the end of the trail, he's set up. We don't know how long the trail is, so we have to be sure to cover as much ground as possible in a day's time. That means shorter rest stops, Naruto." He stated, still staring suspiciously at the tree from which the weapon that had killed the man had come from. Naruto glared at Sasuke, but understood, it was just Sasuke, trying to make a point. Although Naruto was worried, he knew for a fact Sasuke was the one that was worrying the most. Sasuke loved Sakura, and everyone knew that his brother was the worst person ever to could a hold of Sakura, especially under the circumstances of it all.

"We have to tell the others, and Kakashi, we need to form a plan, otherwise, Sakura is doomed. Got it?" Shikamaru stated, his usual lazy tone replaced with an authoritative and serious one. He glanced at Sasuke, prepared to try to stop him should he decide to take on his brother alone and risk endangering Sakura even more. Sasuke stared at the ground, clenching and unclenching his fists. How could he have let this happen? Wasn't he supposed to protect her? Wasn't he the reason that she wasn't dead already? Why was it now that he'd saved her once he was unable to save her again by himself? What kind of protector was he?

"Damn it. Can we hurry up and tell everybody? The faster we get the organizing done, the quicker Sakura is taken out of danger. That's all that matters right now, so hurry up!" Sasuke leapt into the air, beginning the tree jumping hike back to Konoha to inform the others. Leaving Shikamaru and Naruto, dumbfounded and amazed that his impulsive nature had not taken the better of him…there was no doubt now, that Sakura was the most important person in Sasuke's life. Sakura was another important person in his life, that had now been taken out of his grasp by his brother.

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A/N: Hey folks, next chappie will end it. The next chapter will be very depressing and filled with angst. You've been warned. Please, as always, review.**

**Much love, **

**Mitsurufangirl**

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Next Chapter: Broken Hearts and Shredded Minds**


	8. Only Human

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**A/N: So, I bet all of you hate me for not finishing this until now, huh? But huzzah! I have. I won't get your hopes up for an epilogue, because it basically all depends on if I want to write one and the feedback I get from this. So please review. And I already know you want to kill me for not updating, so you don't have to tell me anymore. Much love! **

**P.S. I know the chapter title was supposed to be "Broken Hearts and Shredded Minds" but I've tweaked things a bit, so yea. It's not anymore, cuz it doesn't really go with the chapter anymore. Or it does, but the one I made up to replace it goes better. Thanks!**

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ReCaP oF lAsT cHaPtEr!!!!

"_Damn it. Can we hurry up and tell everybody? The faster we get the organizing done, the quicker Sakura is taken out of danger. That's all that matters right now, so hurry up!" Sasuke leapt into the air, beginning the tree jumping hike back to Konoha to inform the others. Leaving Shikamaru and Naruto, dumbfounded and amazed that his impulsive nature had not taken the better of him…there was no doubt now, that Sakura was the most important person in Sasuke's life. Sakura was another important person in his life that had now been taken out of his grasp by his brother._

_EnD rEcAp_

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Reflections Of A Broken Kunoichi

**Chapter 8: Only Human**

**by Miranda Panda-chan**

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Sasuke was getting anxious, they were taking too long, they only had so much time before she'd be gone forever from their grasp.

"Slow down, Uchiha, Uzumaki." The Hyuuga ordered from behind him, "I'm the captain of this mission, fall back or I will report you both." He said, the Uchiha rolled his eyes, scoffing, Naruto fell back a little, still ahead, but not running side by side with Sasuke.

"This is Sakura's life, and I'll be damned if I'm too late because you won't get your ass in gear." Sasuke shouted back and took off twice as fast as before, Naruto giving one backward glance at Neji before following him and matching his pace. Neji let out an exasperated sigh as Sasuke's person grew smaller and smaller with distance, and Naruto was right behind him.

Neji sighed, this was not going to end well. The men ahead of him were thinking too much with their hearts not their heads. Logic was the key, not instinct, instinct is what got huge teams of ANBU slaughtered on a regular patrol mission. Logic is what saved people from walking in to the middle of an ambush.

_But obviously, Team 7 hadn't learned to differentiate between the two, now did they? _Neji thought bitterly. He'd known when he was assigned this mission that he wasn't really in charge. By all technicalities, yes, he was their leader, but by sheer will power and determination alone, they outranked him by millions especially because of whom they were fighting to get to. He sighed, their team was troublesome, as Shikamaru had put it bluntly. It was a good description. Troublesome. They caused it, they stalked it, trouble found them and was attracted to them like a magnet, and all in all, the three were in a word: troublesome.

Neji finally caught up with the two, Byakugan in full power as he grabbed them both.

"We're setting up camp for the night, and unless you want to be reported and put under parole, or break your parole in your case, Uchiha, I suggest you return to the rest of the group." Sasuke seethed, wrenching his arm away, irritation glowing brightly in his onyx eyes as he glowered, his blonde accomplice merely sighing in defeat. Naruto turned his head towards the direction they had been headed, sniffing the air slightly. He could smell her, her and Itachi. Faint, yes, but he could still get the slightest whiff. He sighed, they were so close. It wouldn't take them much longer to get her back and bring her back to Konoha. She could be happy with Sasuke, they'd finally get together and all the traumatic drama would wash over and they'd live happily ever after. That's all he wanted for her. Sakura, just so long as she was happy in the end, nothing else really mattered.

But fear gripped them nonetheless despite the closeness of their target. They had one more day left to find Sakura. One. That was it. That's all they had left to find Sakura. Then there would be no hope, any ounce of hope that there was would have disappeared with the ultimatum.

"Do you really think she's still alive, teme?" Naruto asked. The fire was nothing but dying embers and the rest of the group was asleep. They were currently on guard duty, holding vigilance for another hour before they'd wake up someone else to take over.

"She better be, dobe." He said quietly, on the brink of righteous fury as they both stared at the expansion of forest before them. They weren't far, Naruto could smell them, which was excellent considering the trail of kunai was beginning to disappear. Probably on purpose, Sasuke thought, but didn't brood on it.

He was worried for her. He hated to admit that, he hated having a weakness, finding a weakness in her of all people. The annoying pink-haired girl from his childhood simply could not disappear from the place she'd wormed her way into: his heart. He hadn't even known he still had one when he'd first started out as a genin. And now…his fist clenched as he ground his teeth in anger and shame.

"Wake the others. We should get moving, again. The suns starting to come up, and we aren't helping Sakura by waiting around for people to catch their breaths." He growled, and no repartee from Naruto followed as the Kyuubi boy obeyed the orders of his friend.

Groggily they awoke, Naruto and Sasuke having more energy then ever seen. They'd reach her today, they had too. Failure wasn't an option.

"Everyone accounted for?" Neji scanned the small group and nodded curtly, while the rest stretched and rubbed the sleep out of their eyes, "Alright. Let's move out." And they were off once again. The five shinobi running headlong into the Akatsuki headquarters, all for one small girl. If this had been any other hostage situation, there would've been more planning, Lady Hokage wouldn't have sent them into such a dangerous mission with little to no information and no strategy. The only objective was to retrieve Sakura. That was it, and normally Konohagakure was definite utilitarian in the ways of dangerous nuke-nin gangs. He supposed that maybe he just didn't know Sakura, and therefore could not know the true depth of why her rescue was so important to those that did know her. But either way, the idea that his authority was being undermined by her teammates was not a pleasant way to spend time during this mission.

"We're here." Naruto stated, landing on a tree at the edge of a clearing. His voice was solemn, and Sasuke merely glowered still at the ground below. The rest stopped on various branches, nearing the one where the two male members of Team 7 stood.

"Welcome little brother." The chilling voice struck a chord as they all jumped into the clearing, the presence already spotted, the (blank) of surprise lost.

The sight that greeted them was unpleasant to the least. He held her bridal style in his arms. Her head thrown back like a ragdoll, limbs hanging loosely, the pale shade of flesh making her resemble on of the dead. Her normally bright bubblgum pink hair was matted, ratty, tangled, and dirty and a muted sort of pink. Her eyes were opened slightly, as if it was taking every ounce of will power to keep the open. The dull jade color stared unseeing towards the sky instead of the usual bright emerald green.

"We were getting a bit worried when you didn't show up yesterday weren't we, cherry blossom?" She didn't make a noise. She didn't move. The only sign of life was the staggering rise and fall of her chest. He only smiled at the immobility.

"But you're here now, so the real fun can begin. We'll be taking the Kyuubi, and getting rid of a nuisance. Several actually." He said, eyeing the rest of the team, coming back to rest his gaze on the only other surviving Uchiha. Sasuke growled with indignation while Naruto glared, holding back the rage of the Kyuubi.

"So let's start the fun, shall we?"

Thus the battle began.

The body of Sakura was thrown as he charged, being caught by Ten-Ten as soon as she was in the air. She wasn't a medic-nin like Sakura, not even as good as Ino, but she could do enough. She mended the broken bones the best she could, trying to give her enough energy for her to take over. The weapons mistress was a far better kunoichi then medic. The pink haired girl sputtered, gasping for breath as she blinked rapidly.

"Ten-Ten?"

"Sakura-chan!"

"Naruto?"

"Listen Sakura, I don't how to heal you any further, but I've got to get in there and help. Can you take it over from here?" her eyes pleaded for a positive answer. Sakura nodded tentatively as Ten-Ten nodded back at her and ran off. She promptly got up, dusting herself off as she tried to regain what little bearings she had in the first place.

Sasuke charged at Itachi, Kusanagi drawn, sharingan activated and spinning wildly. Kisame was battling against Ten-Ten and Shikamaru. Naruto and Lee were both engaged in a battle against Deidara. And Sakura was doing her best to heal herself without using too much chakra as she strayed from the battlefield by a few meters to prepare herself to run back in at any moment. She'd be no good other than to heal. Her strength was by far at its lowest. She cursed quietly under her breath, there was no way she would end up in any condition that would be better than the one she was at right now. It could only go downhill. She took a chakra replenisher pill quickly swallowing it before running out into the battlefield. Her eyes searching for those in need of any type of assistance.

The fight against Deidara seemed to be going very well, Ten-Ten and Shikamaru made an excellent team, and she wondered briefly why she'd never seen them work together before. Naruto and Lee were having slight trouble with Kisame, Lee being slightly more effective than Naruto at this point, despite the Kage Bunshin no jutsu at work. The real sight was the Uchiha's battle. She could hardly see them, barely catching their movements as they knocked over trees, created craters, and tried to attack and dodge at the same time. She watched in awe at the overly graceful movements.

She was currently throwing poisoned senbon at the blue-shark man, as well as explosive-tagged kunai. The battle had been going on for awhile, the sun had been nearly all the way up in the sky when it had started, and now the sky seemed as if it were on fire. The orange, pink, purple, and red glow of the sunset darkening the area considerably.

Her attention was suddenly caught by an explosion coming from the other side of the battlefield, Deidara flying overhead as Shikamaru used the Shadow paralysis jutsu, having Ten-Ten send weaponry flying at the defenseless Akatsuki member, only letting up the Nara specialty jutsu right before impact causing another round of explosions as the screams of the blonde man were muffled by the roar of fire, and the two were already headed to aid in the battle against Kisame. The shadow clones were beginning to disappear at an alarming rate. She could see Naruto's tired form covered in bruises and injured considerably, receiving all the damage each clone had taken separately. He fell back, letting the rest of them take his place in fighting, and she could only watch as Kisame knocked around her other comrades, knowing that if she interfered, she'd only cause more trouble than good. The fight overhead was still just as strong as before. The taunts were getting more personal though, the anger and hate was obvious now and the clearing was practically destroyed thanks to them. They were incredible never tiring, dodging the other's attacks while trying to reciprocate, and managing. But then they both stopped, falling to the ground, staring at each other with death in their eyes.

"Giving up yet, Sasuke?" his voice jeered. Sasuke panted, gasping for breath as he held Kusanagi at the ready, the crackling of chidori still loud and clear.

"Never. Today you will die, Itachi!" he charged again, but Itachi just watched.

"You're still too weak Sasuke." He said simply, flashing a glance at the younger Uchiha. He dodge the attack and sent one of his own, sending Sasuke flying into a nearby tree, knocking several others down in the process. His own gaze flashed to hers for a moment as he sneered wickedly.

"Poor little Sakura-chan. You're just useless aren't you? You can't help. You can't win. You're pathetic. But my objective must be fulfilled. You were just bait after all, and I told you you're part was over." She stared at him, a small hint of fear shining but otherwise clear calm could be seen. She glared at him, daring him to try and take her out again on fair terms. (Although this was far from fair, she didn't even have full chakra levels!) He just sneered at her defensive stance, "Your part is over my dear, there's no need to get defensive. But…" his gaze traveled to the orange-clad ninja, still exhausted and out of chakra across the battlefield, "…his isn't."

And she could only watch in horror as he rushed at her friend, who was currently being held up by a tree due to his exhaustion. His body would have to replenish his own chakra before her healing would do him any good. She glanced with horror-filled eyes as the eldest Uchiha came closer, the monster's hand outstretched, a blood-colored aura surrounding the extremity.

"NARUTO!" she ran at him as fast as she could, kicking into her chakra reserves so she could pick up the pace. She knew this was going to end up being the equivalent of racing a speeding bullet.

She'd won that race before, and by God she'd do it again.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME, CHERRY BLOSSOM?" he cackled, as he flew, seeming to defy gravity with the speed. She'd only have a second. She could see exactly where they'd meet, if she could maneuver there, Naruto wouldn't be in any harm. She just hoped Neji wasn't figuring this out along with her.

"Sakura, no!' Ah, but he was. There was little they could do to stop her. The speed was at right now was unreachable to the any of them. They were all far too low on chakra to be her match at the moment. She was in position, she skidded to a halt and turned just as Itachi arrived at the position.

A sickening ripping noise was heard, as the ground flew up around them creating a crater from the sheer force of his speed.

"SAKURA!" And time slowed as she fell to her knees, blood spurting forth from her mouth as she coughed from the impact. The dust settled, revealing the gruesome image they all knew their eyes would see.

Blood. Widened green eyes in surprise, but not fear…never fear. Itachi's crimson eyes narrowed in hate, holding his right arm with his left hand at the joint. His right hand visible extending from Sakura's back into the open. His arm lodged in her gut, impaling her. Quiet, eerie silence. Stillness.

Then blood curdling rage.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" and charged at him, chidori crackling from Kusanagi's blade. His eyes bled crimson, and rage making him see red as he stabbed aimlessly. Itachi jumped back.

"You'll never be able to kill me, little brother. You can never hate enough if you allow yourself to be distracted by people like _her._"

"You killed her!"

"Oh, I did much more than that, little brother. I _broke _her." Realization dawned, and the younger Uchiha gave a strangled cry as he charged again.

"You bastard!" his reply was the chilling laughter of his brother as Itachi leapt into a tree, Sasuke stood to follow, but Naruto's voice broke through his rage as he saw that he'd gotten up, despite his injuries and instructions to do otherwise, and was now kneeling over Sakura.

"TEME! Don't you dare follow him!" He yelled angrily. Sasuke turned around, rage still flaming.

"Why the hell not?! He hurt Sakura! She's dy-!" but he cut him off before he could finish.

"Precisely why if you go after him, I'll kill you myself." And the glare given to him told him Naruto was completely serious. He looked back at the place where Itachi had been, and then returned his gaze back to Sakura's broken form being held in the arms of Naruto.

"Uchiha!" the Hyuuga ordered, "If you go after him," he took a deep breath, "you'll be disobeying orders, and breaking your parole. I _will _report you." He said. Sasuke growled, _that _was not the way to make him stay. Threats only fueled his rebellion. He growled one more time as he slowly walked back towards the small crater in the ground where all his fellow shinobi stood watching as the medic's life slowly ebbed away. Sasuke fell beside Naruto willingly, dropping to his knees beside his not really brother and staring pathetically, defeated, at the pink-haired girl. She coughed and squirmed in pain in the blonde's arms.

"She's dying, Sasuke, none of us have enough chakra to be of any use to her, and she can't heal herself, and we'd only quicken the process if we tried to carry her back to the village. So unless you want to let her leave us permanently without you, I suggest you stay here." Naruto's voice shook with unshed tears, he held them in while in front of Sakura, knowing she wouldn't want him to be upset after she'd just saved his life. Naruto handed her to Sasuke, she cringed but continued to writhe in pain, clutching the wound to put pressure, anything to lessen the pain. She opened her eyes, barely.

"You've got to be the most selfish person I know, Sakura," he said, almost teasingly, except for the seriousness of his eyes. She smirked, and quirked an eyebrow.

"Oh? Hm, I could say the same to you, Sasuke-kun." She said weakly, coughing as blood spattered.

"You got your wish." He said bitingly, all playfulness gone. She nodded, understanding what he meant.

"Yes, yes I did. Although, I'm not sure if I want it so much anymore." She said, laughing dryly. "I suppose it's too late now, eh? You know the saying, be careful what you wish for…" she trailed off, sighing. He was so warm, and she was so cold. She couldn't help but snuggling, just ever so slightly, against his chest. Being in his arms like this—it was like everything was going to be okay again, with real worry and concern etched into his face, and yet, something else stared down on her too. Although she couldn't put a name to it, it was oddly familiar. She wondered if he loved her, yet unwilling and in to much pain to verbalize her thoughts.

"You moron!" he pulled her head to his chest, holding her tightly as he tried to even out his own breathing, "Why did you do that? I could've stopped him…I could've…you didn't--!"

"Yes, I did, Sasuke-kun." Her hand stroked his cheek softly, green eyes having a look of peace, "You couldn't have made it. It's a utilitarianism system during a mission, you know that. Do what's best for the majority of the people."

"But…you don't understand, Sakura. Damn it! I love you!" No sudden gasps of shock were heard from the listeners and onlookers, no widened eyes of surprise. They'd all known. They all knew. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the lonely boy and the bubbly girl were always meant to be together.

Sakura smiled, brightly. The first one they'd seen in ages, "You know I love you, Sasuke-kun. You've always known." She whispered. She craned her neck to reach his face, pressing her lips weakly against his own. His breath caught at the temperature, but he knew this would probably the last time they'd ever kiss. Their ending was coming all too soon. He cursed the Fates mentally. She pulled back, smiling just as brightly as before, even as the temperature of her skin dropped considerably, and her color was digressing into a ghastly pale blue color.

"Thank you….Sasuke….kun."

And her hand fell to the ground with a soft _thud_.

**_Fin._**

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A/N: This is the end. FINALLY! I may or may not put up an epilogue, but don't get your hopes up, seriously. It took two years to get this friggin' chapter written, don't start getting any false hopes. Never doing this again. If it's gonna be one-shot, it'll stay a one-shot. I hope you're crying now. Really, I do.

**So tell me how much you hate me for my procrastination issues in a review, kay???**

**Love!**

**-Miranda Panda**

**P.S. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! **


	9. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

**A/N: Ya know, I can honestly say I won't miss this story. At all. It's been a pain to right since Chapter 6. But I'm glad I could add just a little closure to the whole thing. Hope you don't hate me to much—and for the love of God review! **

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Reflections of a Broken Kunoichi

**Epilogue**

**By Miranda Panda-chan**

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_Twelve years later…_

Naruto glared at the gravestones before him. Glared with loathing, hurt, and betrayal. That bastard…after everything that had happened he still wouldn't be satisfied. He'd taken out all of the Akatsuki, managed to kill Itachi after five years of searching, blaming, training, sweating, and grieving, and had taken every S-Ranked mission he could get his hands on that was offered and some that weren't.

Now, look where it had gotten him. He never could bring Sakura-chan back. Not in a thousand years. Naruto supposed that it was alright, because perhaps they were together. He didn't really think the bastard was going to Hell. He'd been through so much and helped so many people later on in his life. He'd saved countless lives by getting rid of the most notorious of villains. He'd hunted down all the missing-nin, slaying some and capturing others to bring back to Ibiki. He'd worked himself so hard for that single moment: the moment where he'd be reunited with Sakura. Because he'd tried so damn hard to redeem himself. Naruto couldn't help but think that he'd finally gotten his wish.

He knew all his hopes and dreams had been shattered once Sakura left this world. Naruto knew so well that any hope of keeping the Uchiha bloodline alive was lost with the death of the pink-haired medic. Maybe if Itachi had killed him, Sakura and the teme would have gone on, married, had kids, lived happily ever after. Maybe.

But playing What If wouldn't help either of them now.

Now both their names were on that damned stone along with Kakashi's and Iruka's and the Sandaime's. Selfish little….

He sighed. Glaring at the tombstones still, but with something other than anger.

"You did what you had to do, right teme?" Silence except for the sound of his own shaky breath and the pitter-patter of rain.

"Yeah, you always were the silent type," Naruto chuckled dryly amused by his own slight madness. He'd done this for awhile, he'd go to the graveyard and to the Memorial Stone on the anniversary of the person's death. He'd go to Sakura's twice a year…once for her birthday, and then once for the day where she'd left them alone. No one else mattered that much, it was just them. His family. He'd go to Kakashi's on his birthday, but he'd never found out his old sensei's birthday from him, and cheating by reading off a tombstone felt sorta blasphemous, so he only went once a year for him. He visited Iruka once in awhile, but didn't make it too much of a habit, once or twice every couple years.

Now he'd add another one to the list, wouldn't he?

Sasuke hadn't wanted anything of the Uchiha to survive after his last hope of having a family died. He'd burned the whole compound down a week after her death and had moved into her old apartment. He'd only changed the color of the bedroom wall out of pride. Pink just didn't suit him as well as it had her. But he kept the rest the exact same. He kept it orderly and in shape, cleaning and dusting just like she would have if she was still here.

Naruto had known it wasn't healthy, but he figured it would be even unhealthier for the both of them if someone else moved in. They had both paid visits to her, talking and chatting animatedly, or well, Naruto had. Sasuke had just stared at the tombstone, fists clenched and mouth set in a thin line.

Sasuke hadn't known Naruto knew about the ring.

He'd placed it on her finger when the body was brought back and Tsunade had made look slightly better before the funeral. He'd been the last one to look on her before they'd locked her in a coffin forevermore. Before they'd taken her away from them permanently. Uchiha symbol, surrounded by small diamonds, almost microscopic, in the middle with emeralds and jade stones surrounding the diamonds on a white gold band, expensive and flattering and perfect…except she was dead.

Her only fault was leaving them behind to face this world alone. She should've known they couldn't make it on their own without her. She was the glue that had kept them together, she'd been the knot to tie them all together. She helped them to be the best they could be—she'd brought out the best in them. No one else could do that. Not Hinata, even if Naruto loved her to death, not Karin who constantly made Sasuke hate her even more the more she tried to make him get over Sakura, not Tsunade who tried to help them both, nor Shizune who tried with Tsunade. No. No one could replace her.

Nor could anyone replace him. Because, Naruto couldn't help but think, every team has its own dynamics. Most of them follow the same pattern, the two males are best friends and rivals all the same, the kunoichi is friends with both, staying in the background because she is the physically weaker sex, and…

And now he was alone. Again. And damn it, he had no hope now.

_What about Hinata?_ A tiny voice in his head asked quietly. He wouldn't deny he loved her, nor would he deny that she loved him. They'd be together forever if he had his way—which he would. But it wouldn't be the same without his family. They'd been the closest people to him, and now they were gone.

Not even Hinata could replace them. No, the only way anyone would truly know the meaning of Team and Family and how they connected and everything they meant and how it tears you inside out and _God just please let it all stop because I just can'tcan'tcan't take it anymore! _Unless they all go off and lose their entire team to greed, power, love, hate, anger, betrayal, guilt, blame, bitterness, and broken hearts. Unless they lose everyone dear to them.

No, he wouldn't give up, he'd be damned if he became the weakest link after all these years. Sakura had lived, despite her hardest attempts, Sasuke stayed alive, and now he would, too, purely out of spite—just to show them—those high and mighty asses (because that's what they were, thinking they could just leave him like that and not show a damn bit of remorse about it)—just to show them that he could and would. Dattebayo! What then?! What?! THEN?!

He wanted to scream at the eerily cold silence that enveloped the misty and foggy area. If it was anywhere else and he was anyone other than who he was, it might've been creepy. But he is Naruto, and it is the cemetery that holds so much death and hurt and pain and agony and regrets and should haves, would haves, could haves, what ifs, and damn it if only he'd…

He stopped, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, alone on the cold morning that haunted his every waking moment, because today is only the second day he has visited this stupid place.

"You're a real asshole, ya know? I loved her, too. Maybe not like you did or as much as you did, but I loved her, too, damn it! And how dare you think that—gah! You're just dumb! Did you really think any of that stuff you did would bring her back? Did you think it would impress her? Or maybe you thought you could bribe your way in, you bastard!" he yelled at the inanimate remains…the only thing other than a handful of pictures that gave any indication of the existence of a certain Uchiha Sasuke. He looked down, ignoring the water that hotter than hot falling from his eyes to the ground below without his permission.

"No…I suppose you didn't…you're probably just selfish enough to have done it to speed time up…to try and see her quicker…. I can't blame you for that, teme. I can't blame you for anything anymore, damn it. Tch, I can't even blame her or Kakashi. And I haven't done a damn thing, either." He said quietly. The rain was beginning to raise up, and he could see the beginnings of sun. He looked up, staring at the new light that was being shed upon his own pity party. How ironic, that the heaven's would be happy today of all days.

Or maybe it was a sign, and the more he thought about it—it probably was. To show him, maybe, that he wasn't as alone as he thought. Maybe it was to show him that they were waiting for him. Maybe it was them showing him that they were finally together. Maybe—happiness for finally squirming its way into the long path ahead.

He shook his head, the ghost of a smile crossing his features—hardened, but still holding a youthful glow over the years of torment. He sounded like a mad man, and perhaps he was, but this—this just couldn't be coincidence. He shivered slightly at the cold north wind that blew past him. He'd found it ironic that he'd left on the coldest day of fall. He supposed, maybe, it was a reflection of his personality. He could only chuckle dryly at that.

But then again, that's how it'd all started—with the mere reflections of a girl. With the reflections of a broken kunoichi.

But he couldn't blame her, maybe he could place the blame on Orochimaru, but he'd always been evil—so it's not like it would cause an uproar if it was his fault. It wouldn't be much of a shocker, there. But today wasn't about her. Not really, maybe it connected and spider-webbed back to her, but her day had come earlier, much earlier. Her day had been in the beginning of spring.

No, today was Sasuke's day, the day where he'd completed his last mission only to die from excessive blood loss and exhaustion right outside Konoha's boundaries. He'd lost both his eyes, but from what Tsunade had said, it was a self-inflicted wound lest someone try to duplicate the genetics and recreate the infamous sharingan. The downfall of all Uchiha.

"You better take care of her, teme. I don't care where you are. Just because you're dead doesn't mean you can be a bastard. Got it?" he called to the ray of sunlight. He smiled as it seemed to flicker with the clouds overhead moving to reveal more of the golden illumination.

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A/N: Yeah, I know. I said I probably wouldn't write an epilogue, but I just couldn't stop myself. The ending was climatic and I was pretty proud of it…but it irked me too much to just end it like that. So! Not that this makes anything better and, yeah, it's still depressing as all hell, but it's better than just leaving it at complete and utter despair. Right?


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